Bittersweet
by Naolice
Summary: VeelaDraco! Not only has Hermione just found out she isn't Hermione Granger or she gets a few more unexpected things coming her way. And with the war still raging on these things are not her only concern.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. The story and the characters belong solely to J.K, Rowling. I'm just playing with them and making no profit from this.

**AN:** I apologize for the rambling, but I'm so excited! You don't have to read this if you don't want to. It's probably best if you don't. =)

Well then, here it is. My first English story, and the first one with so much work in it. Though it is not finished yet, I wanted to know if you guys are interested in reading this. This is only the prologue though and it won't be long before I'll post the first real chapter.

I'll try to post regularly (every two weeks) but if I feel I can't do that, please don't shoot me. Sometimes real life wants me too and I can't finish off the story.

I know, another Veela story, but I'm absolutely thrilled with the concept of it (and also with another concept which I interwove in this one). So this is my take on the Veela story and of course for those who didn't realize it, this is a Dramione story!

_**Prologue **_

She watches him get up and put his clothes on. Everything is so strange and bizarre. Not only has she just found out that she is, in fact, a pureblood, and who her family really is, but she is also his mate.

And there is nothing she can do about it, because everything has already happened.

Biting her lip, she pulls the blankets high and tries everything in her power not to look at him, which is very difficult because it is like his whole being has a pull on her. She finds it hard to fight against it, so she lets herself one moment to look.

At that moment he stands there, looking at her. When she casts her eyes up she looks in his eyes. It may be weird but at that moment everything feels right and she forgets all of her worries. She can't even remember that she is worried nor that there is something wrong.

But then he opens his mouth and starts to speak. And the world comes crashing down on her.

This can't be happening.

**AN 2:** I'm now busy reposting everything already posted, because I have found an amazing Beta who is now editing all my stories.  
>I would very much like to thank <strong>Sarah Liz B<strong>, who is putting much work in this.


	2. Chapter 1, A glitterstorm

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. The characters solely belong to J.K. Rowling, not to me. I'm just playing with it.

**AN: **I neglected to tell you the last time that if you find any grammar mistakes, please tell me. My native language is not English and I would very much like to improve it.

Also, I wanted to say was that this story, or at least the thought, was inspired by the song 'Bittersweet' by Within Temptation. Therefore, I copied the same title and I'll quote some of the song later.

I would like to thank my lovely friend, Kathleen =) who never stopped believing this story could be made and who kept reading it. Even in the middle of the night.

Now, here you have the story. Enjoy!

**AN 2: **Again this is the better version of chapter one. Thanks to my lovely beta **Sarah Liz B**! Who is truly amazing.

_**Chapter one **_

The rain pours down from the sky on a grey July morning. A young girl of twenty sits by the window, her head leaning in her hand, looking at the little drops of rain falling down from the window.

Behind her, a ginger-haired girl is talking with a ginger-haired boy and another boy with glasses. Hermione ignores it all, though it is her problems that they are discussing. She feels ill enough just finding out and she can't handle their meddling, even if they are her best friends. She would love to be alone, but when you are part of the Golden Trio there is no such thing as being alone.

It has been three years since they finished at Hogwarts and the war is still raging on. The trio and Ginny have relocated to Grimmauld Place. The safety is upgraded and Grimmauld Place is now the base for the Order of the Phoenix again. Every now and then there are gatherings. Great losses are felt on their side but also on Voldemort's and it doesn't seem like the end is near. Everyone is tired and everyone is on edge.

Harry and Ginny have started dating again and try to make the best of their relationship, just like Hermione and Ron, who recently are a couple again. They had dated in their last year of Hogwarts but the relationship didn't last. Over the years the two have stayed as far away from each other as they can because after their failed relationship tensions ran high between them. But it has been three years and there has been war for three years. They have grown up a lot and they are in need of each other and partially need of comfort. They have been dating again for nearly two months and things are going rather well.

Right up until that blasted letter from Dumbledore. Yes, from Dumbledore! He must have arranged it years in advance so it was a big surprise for all of them. It had arrived one day before and, to keep things short, it said that Hermione was, in fact, adopted. That her Muggle parents weren't even her real parents. They'd died a few years ago anyway, so she couldn't even go to them and ask them about it. The letter said that she was a Naberrie and that he was very sorry. And that was all.

Of course Hermione being Hermione immediately, she started looking in books for information. But nothing has been found yet.

Now, after two days of looking in all the books in the house, she was about to give up. This morning she has been starring into space for hours as the realization finally sinks in. Shock is something close you could name the state Hermione is now in.

Hermione has had a huge blank spot in her memories all her life. She can't remember anything that happened before she was nine. Her parents – the ones who were her adoptive parents – had always told her she'd fallen on her head and had a concussion. She hadn't been able to remember a thing and they'd had to teach her everything again, even her name.

But now –with the letter - she is certain that she'd had a life with her real parents. The only question is: what had happened?

She isn't certain she wants an answer on that.

"Hermione! Look what I found out about your family!" Ginny suddenly shouts.  
>She has been looking in a book they had found this afternoon, hidden behind others in the bookcase.<br>Hermione has been in a state of shock all morning so Ginny has looked through it. Two days ago Hermione had wanted to know everything. Wanted to find out who her real parents were. But now she is afraid. She doesn't want to hear it, she doesn't want to find out. She can't remember how many times already she has told them that. Not wanting to to tell them again, she gets up and walks out of the room, not looking at them. As she walks up the stairs to her room, a hand touches her shoulder, making her turn around to face Ron.

She is afraid he's going to ask her what's wrong, but instead he takes her in his arms and holds her.

"Everything is going to be alright," is the only thing he says.

She hopes he is right.

XXX

An hour and a half later they are all sitting in the kitchen. Harry has calmed Ginny down so that she will wait with her information. Ron has been consoling Hermione. _She really doesn't look well, _he thinks, _and she hasn't slept all night, which is strange for her because she loves to sleep_.

Ron smiles at Hermione, putting a steaming cup of tea in front of her. When everyone has one –and Ron has eaten almost all of the cookies - Ginny starts speaking. "Hermione, I understand how you must feel but you know me well enough to know that I'm only trying to help, don't you?" Her brown eyes stare into Hermione muddy brown ones.

"I know, Ginny, but I'm just not sure I want to know," admits Hermione, staring at her tea.

Harry is sitting beside her, watching her peculiarly and then he looks at Ginny.

"Why wouldn't you want to know?" she asks quietly.

Hermione bites her lip. "I have a bad feeling." It is just a whisper but it's so quiet in the kitchen that everybody hears it.

"Bloody hell! Of course you would have a bad feeling. If I had parents like that I would have a bad feeling too!" Ron suddenly shouts, oblivious to Hermione's distress.

"RON!" Harry and Ginny shout.

Hermione looks up, shocked. Her brown eyes are wide and her mouth is hanging open. "What do you mean?"

"You heard what I meant," Ron says simply. "Your parents were pure evil! That's what I think." Again, he doesn't even have a clue what he's saying or how he's saying it.

Completely upset, Hermione turns her eyes to Ginny. She gives Ron one more look and then gets up. Walking around the table, Ginny takes Hermione's hand and takes her out of the room, where they can talk alone, quietly.

"Pure evil?"

Hermione looks like she's on the verge of tears. She has never been a crier but today she's so tired and confused. How can everything go so wrong in just a day's time? She has never felt so lost or hopeless in her life.

"No!" Ginny almost shouts. "For the love of Merlin, of course not!" She takes a seat and Hermione follows her example.

"Look," Ginny takes Hermione's hands in hers and starts to talk. "You know you have been looking for your family name in all the books here, in this house, but you didn't want to look in the book we found just this morning. So, I started looking because I wanted to do something for you, for a change."

Hermione nods her head and watches Ginny take a breath.

"I have found out that you are from a noble, ancient family that are no more. How that happened I have yet to find out, but I will I promise you that I will," swears Ginny. "In that book I did not only find a family tree but also the connections they had." Ginny looks Hermione in the eye finding, that she is indeed paying close attention, and continues. "Your family was ranked amongst the top highest. Like now, the top highest are…" She doesn't finish but looks expectantly at Hermione, who sighs but finishes with, "Malfoy, Zabini, Parkinson, Nott and Greengrass."

Ginny smiles approvingly. "I found out that your family fitted after Zabini, which is of course very high."

Hermione casts her eyes down. "But they're all Slytherins; the ones we are fighting against."

Ginny grabs her chin and makes her look up at her.

She is worried for Hermione, who she has never seen so down. _And_, Ginny thinks as an afterthought, _looked so ill_.

"That does not mean your family was like them too. In the book there is no word about these families getting along or anything like that, so maybe your parents were just really wealthy."

Ginny keeps looking Hermione in the eye until the latter smiles and nods her head.

"Well, now. I'd better look some more," Ginny says brightly, getting up, leaving Hermione by herself, still not really knowing anything more.

XXX

The next day Harry comes in the kitchen with a bang. Ron almost chokes on his soup, Ginny gives a little scream of fright and Hermione looks up, surprised. "Look what's in the paper now!" Harry exclaims, waving the _Daily Prophet_above his head.

"Does it matter? You know that Voldemort has that paper under his will," comes Hermione's logical answer.

"I know, But this is something new!" Harry runs down the few stairs and throws the paper on the table.

On the front page, there is a picture of a girl with shoulder length wavy hair, smiling, below huge letters saying, "WANTED, ALIVE AND UNHARMED" Underneath, a huge sum is printed.

"Who is that?" Hermione asks, taking the paper, happy that there is something else to ponder on.

"More importantly, why do they want her so much?" Harry asks.  
>Hermione nods thoughtfully, well aware of Ron reading over her shoulder, which she found a very annoying habit of him.<p>

"Did you see the amount of money she is worth?" Ron suddenly shouts. "That's even more than you, Harry!"

Harry just nods and drops in the chair next to Ginny.

"Does it say anything?" Ginny asks. Harry shakes his head. "Why unharmed?" Ron wonders. The wanted pictures have never stated 'unharmed'.

The group grows silent and they all look up, surprised at him.

"What?" he asks.

"It's a very good question," Hermione says, reading the paper again, ignoring dizziness and a headache. She really doesn't know what is wrong with her lately. Everything seems to be falling apart since the start of the month.

After a few minutes Harry seemed to come out of his daze first. "I'll arrange a meeting with the order.

Maybe someone knows who this girl is." He gives Ginny a quick kiss and hurries out of the kitchen, Ron following him.

XXX

A few hours later Hermione is still sitting in the kitchen, by herself, staring at the girl in the picture.

Somehow she seems familiar to her. Suddenly, tapping sounds from the window. It seems to take ages before Hermione stops eying the owl – it is the same one that had brought the letter that has changed her whole world - and goes to the window to open it. The owl drops the letter in the middle of the kitchen table and flies out again. Hermione closes the window and stares at the letter. Finally finding her nerve (where has her courage had run off to?), she takes the letter and opens it. Before she can read it, a strange golden glitter falls out of the envelope, covering her from top to bottom. Not knowing what has come over her, she screams. It doesn't take long before the door is thrown open and Ginny, Ron and Harry barge in. They all stare at the bushy-haired girl covered in golden glitter.

Ginny takes a step towards Hermione, ready to investigate, and her friend starts to shimmer, making her take a step back. It only shimmers briefly before it dulls, revealing a beautiful girl staring at them with large, scared, bright blue eyes. Her normally bushy-brown hair is now blonde and cascading in soft, wavy curls down her back. Her thin lips are now fuller and have a natural red color. She is a few inches taller, but still a slim girl.

"What happened?" the panicky-sounding girl asks. _Even her voice sounds different: lighter, more beautiful_, Ron thinks while staring at Hermione, who he has known for years and is his girlfriend, again.

Hermione hasn't been an ugly girl but the Hermione now looking at them is without a doubt beautiful.

Another scream from Hermione, who is looking into a mirror, makes Ron rush to her side, in an attempt to comfort the distressed girl. "Sshhh…" he tries to comfort Hermione, not realizing she looks the same as the girl staring at them from the _Daily Prophet_. Hermione seems to be the only one who has noticed this, which is the reason why she is panicking so much in the first place.

Ginny picks up the letter, which has fallen to the ground. Reading it, she looks at Hermione again. "Dumbledore is sorry, but he'd had to put a powerful glamour charm on you. It was the only way to hide who you truly are; otherwise people would have recognized you at school."

Hermione is biting her lip as tears gather in her eyes. She wonders what is the matter with her lately. "I'm betting he means people like Malfoy," She says.

Ginny sighs but doesn't say a word. Turning away, she suddenly sees the paper and finally, realization hits her. Turning Harry around and pointing at the picture, they finally understand why Hermione is so distressed. It seems it isn't only because she has a different look.

"I think I'm going to call the Order of the Phoenix to an emergency meeting," he says before hurrying out the kitchen, Ron behind him, leaving Ginny alone with her distressed best friend.


	3. Chapter 2, Cookie dough

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs solely to the rightful author. I'm only playing with the characters.

**AN: **So this chapter is a lot longer than my normal chapters.

Hope you guys like it!

_**Chapter two **_

Later that day, Hermione is busy making diner for the evening. Harry has called the Order members for an emergency meeting and it has been arranged to take place this evening. He really wants to know what was going on, so Hermione is already preparing the food for the group of Order members who will stay for dinner.

Ginny enters the kitchen with slow steps. It takes Hermione a while to notice her and when she does, she wishes she hadn't. She sees the look on Ginny's face and knows she has found something. And that something is bound to bad.

"What did you find?" she asks, turning back to her task of kneading the dough. Ginny is idly playing with a wooden spoon. "It is not something good," she admits after a long silence.

Hermione gives a good punch at the dough and then answers. "I already figured that out."

With a loud clank, Ginny throws the wooden spoon back in the sink. "Ron was right," she says quickly,  
>"Your family was evil. I'm sorry, Hermione."<p>

"Who were they?" Hermione asks calmly, making little punches into the dough and not looking up.

"They were in the highest rank with Voldemort," Ginny admits quietly.

Hermione gave the dough an unnecessarily hard punch.

"They were the most wanted persons by the Ministry and Voldemort's two most loyal servants. The article, which was hidden in the book, also mentions that they were best friends with the Malfoy family." Ginny pauses and watches Hermione closely before she goes on. The dough gets another unnecessary punch.

"I found a book that only goes on about the Naberrie family, again hidden behind other books. I thought to give it a try, it was how we found the other book after all, and I got lucky. So I skipped the beginning, because that started in 1452, and got to the last chapter where I found a family tree, which mentioned a Sophia but not a Hermione. I'm not sure if that is you, but somehow I think so because the tree ends after that. It also stated that your family doesn't exist anymore, nor does your family name."

The dough gets another punch. "What happened?" Hermione sounds too calm and Ginny grows a bit worried.

"There was an attack late one night. No one knows who did it and nobody ever really looked into it. It was only after they were dead that it was found out about their loyalty to Voldemort. In the book they mention that the parents were found but the little girl was missing. It could be that her body disappeared in the flames so nobody ever thought about you, that is if you are the 'Sophia' the book mentioned, surviving it. It was said to be impossible."

Ginny is still watching Hermione very closely, who has become very still and wasn't punching the dough anymore.

"So the house was destroyed and I was gone. That is, if I am Sophia." The name sounds too familiar to her and she can't help but shake the creepy feeling that there's of off of her. Hermione is now staring at the cupboard straight ahead of her without really seeing it.

Ginny just nods. "The house was burned down."

Hermione turns to the right and faces Ginny. "If the house was burned down, how could they have found my parents bodies? I wasn't to be found so I must be dead also. But you said my parents bodies were found… That just doesn't make sense." She puts a hand covered in flour on her hip, making a white spot on her jeans.

They are now both presuming that she is the girl Sophia. However, that leaves the question as to why Dumbledore didn't tell Hermione in the letters that her real name is Sophia, when he revealed everything else.

"The article said your parents' bodies were lying outside, where the flames couldn't touch them."

A glint of shock fills Hermione's bright blue eyes. "Is there anything left of the house?"

Ginny shakes her head no and puts a consoling hand on her friend's shoulder.

For a moment there is only silence but then Hermione shakes Ginny's hand off and turns around.

Ginny keeps a close eye on Hermione when she is searching the cabinets for something. _She doesn't look well_, Ginny thinks. It has been going on since before the letter arrived and she'd meant to ask  
>Hermione something about it. But then the letter had arrived and it slipped from Ginny's mind.<p>

She looks paler than ever and her eyes are a darker blue than normal. Or so she thinks, because her own eyes have been a darker brown than normal in the past. It is almost that same color like when she had once gotten the flu and developed that really high fever. Ginny also notices that Hermione doesn't eat a lot nor had she slept much lately – that much is obvious due to the huge dark circles under her eyes. She needs to tell Ron this as soon as she gets a chance.

Ginny is brought out of her thoughts by Hermione, who has finally found what she has been looking for and is talking again to Ginny.

"You said they were best friends with the Malfoys. Was there anything more about that subject?" she asks. Ginny is stunned by her calmness. She has known the girl for years and knows how she is, but she had thought that there would be more reaction from the girl than only this.

"Just that the parents where friends for life and they spent a lot of time together. Your family was also friends with the Zabinis and Parkinsons, so it is in fact one of the highest families, and not really anything I didn't expect," she answers, still watching Hermione closely.

"Hmm," is Hermione's only answer, distracted. She is busy pushing little forms out of the cookie dough.

"There was one passage about a speculation," Ginny adds.

Hermione picks up the oven tray and walks to the oven. "And that was?" she asks, again not sounding concerned at all. Not sounding like she cares.

"It said that your mother had not even wanted a child, but that you where just an accident. So, she put you under the care of the Malfoy family as many times as she could. You were almost never home and your parents didn't really care, but they didn't want to show that to the world, so you had a beautiful room in your house, which you also had in the Malfoy manor, where you ultimately spent the most time."

Hermione finishes washing her hands and is staring pensively at the towel in her hands.

"So you're saying that I spent most of my childhood playing with the ferret?" She turns to Ginny, wide-eyed, not really believing what she is hearing.

Ginny is relieved that Hermione finally gets upset. It isn't normal to accept all of this like it is nothing.

It had taken Ginny a long time to even come down here and dare to tell her what she had found.

"And also with his friends," adds Ginny, taking a few steps closers to Hermione and wiping the white stain from earlier off her jeans.

Hermione turns, shocked, to Ginny and wrings the towel in her hands in every possible angle. "Crabbe and Goyle?"

Ginny laughs at that. "Goodness, no! His other friends, Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson."

That doesn't seem to get Hermione to calm down. She looks more ill than before.

"Can you take care of the rest of the food, Ginny?"

Ginny takes Hermione by her arms and helps to steady her. She really isn't well and the further in the month they progressed, the more ill she got.

"Of course! But you must go lie down, Hermione!"

At that moment Ron enters and he is immediately worried. "What's wrong?" he asks to nobody in particular.

"Nothing. I'm just not feeling well," Hermione quietly assures Ron and she pushes Ginny's hands off her. "I'm going to lie down," she says, passing Ron, who just nods and walks out of the kitchen as well, going in a different direction. Ginny watches them go with mixed feelings. She is concerned for

Hermione, who is her best friend, and she thinks that Ron should care a lot more for her. After all, wasn't he her boyfriend?

XXX

Hermione still feels a little dizzy when she walks through the dark halls of Grimmauld Place that evening. She stumbles down the dark hall and down the stairs. Downstairs, she takes ahold of the staircase with one hand and places the other on her head. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she waits until the room stops spinning. Things only get worse for her and she really has no idea what is going on. When she had gone upstairs to rest she had immediately fallen asleep on the bed and hadn't woken up until 8:00 pm. The meeting had already finished and nobody had come to wake her up. She cursed the people in the house. The meeting would have been about her so she had really needed to be there, but instead they'd let her sleep. She wonders if anyone had even checked on her.

Ron probably had not. Lately he doesn't seem to care anymore. Not while they find more and more about who she really is and her appearance had changed. It was like, to Ron, she has changed into a whole different person. She is still the same! Even if he didn't look at her the same way.

Finally the world is steady, so Hermione pushes off the stairs and goes to the kitchen.  
>The room is crowded and noisy. The sound isn't kind to her ears and her head immediately starts to pound. She is starting to withdraw – though she is very hungry - when Ginny notices her.<p>

"Hermione! You're awake. Come, sit here, I saved you some dinner." She is already busy taking the food put aside for her and warming it again with her wand.

The kitchen has gone silent and every face is looking at her when she crosses the kitchen to the seat next to Ginny. Ron is sitting on the other end, holding a close eye on her. The Order has heard from Harry that her appearance has changed because of the letter and that this is her natural appearance but they still look in shocked silence at her, making Hermione feel even more uneasy about her new look. After she sits everybody starts talking again and Hermione's head starts pounding again.

"You still don't look good. Should we get you to a nurse?"Ginny says quietly to Hermione.

Hermione swallows her food and shakes her head. "I'm fine, just need some more rest. It will just be the flu or something," she tries to convince Ginny, who wasn't buying it.

"You look nothing like when you had the flu. I know you, 'Mione, and I have been keeping an eye on you. You haven't been well for a time now and it isn't getting any better, it's just getting worse. You and I both know that. I will take you to a nurse tomorrow whether you like it or not. And I will not listen to any discussion. Is that understood, young lady?"Ginny is still speaking quietly but her tone is very convincing and Hermione is wise enough to just nod and finish eating her food. There is just no arguing with Ginny once she has made up her mind. And she really is the only one in this house who doesn't look at her differently since they had found out she is a Naberrie.

After she finishes her dinner, most of the people have gone home, so the kitchen was less crowded, which was a lot better for Hermione's head.

Only Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lupin, Tonks, Arthur, Molly and Moody are left at the table. Lavender is also still there, which is a surprise, because since Hermione started dating Ron, Lavender had gone really jealous and started to avoid them as much as possible. She has been looking angrily at  
>Hermione, thinking that she has deliberately become that beautiful, but at the moment she notices how far Ron and Hermione are sitting from each other. She starts making moony eyes at Ron, who acts like he doesn't see anything.<p>

With only this many people left, Hermione takes this as her cue to ask her question.

"So…" She waits till all eyes are on her. "What happened in the meeting?"

Lupin looks first to Moody, then to Arthur, before he starts talking.

"We have no idea why Voldemort is after you, Hermione. Even our spies at the Ministry can't say a word and we couldn't reach Snape, he is still on a mission in Hungary. But, of course, the main question is why your real picture came in the paper, or if they are even aware that the girl in the picture is Hermione Granger. Or Hermione Naberrie, like your name is apparently," adds Arthur, politely not to saying anything about her beauty.

Hermione feels her headache flaring up again, this another cause other than her mysterious illness contributing to it. "So what has been decided?" She doesn't yet want to mention that her name may not Hermione after all. She is glad Ginny doesn't say anything as well.

"You can't leave Grimmauld Place until we know more about the situation," says Moody, his magical eye swirling in its case.

"So I am a prisoner?" Hermione asks, astonished, to no one in particular, letting her eyes rest on Harry's.

For a moment nobody says anything and then something flashes in Harry's green globes, before he speaks up. "You will never be a prisoner here, Hermione. We're just worried and we have no idea what is going on. It could be dangerous to let you leave this place right now, at least until we know more." In a way Hermione is glad to see and hear Harry talk to her again like he used to. It seems like Harry is finally growing up, or has grown up in the time he has been avoiding Hermione.

Though she is glad Harry is speaking to her, Hermione is not about to give up. "Dangerous?" she asks, as if he has been joking. "Are you serious? We are in the middle of a war, of course things are dangerous, and I doubt I will be in more trouble now than I was before. After all, I'm a pureblood now, not a _Mudblood _anymore." She turns her nose up while saying it.

"I know things are dangerous and I know you can defend yourself, Hermione, but things are very strange for the moment and as Arthur said, we have no idea what's going on. Then there is the big question as to why you are in the paper, searched for more than me. Not that I'm envious, 'Mione."  
>Hermione wants to open her mouth and defend herself again but Harry's green eyes shimmer hard and she realizes arguing will be useless. She settles for a short nod, which elicits a smile from Harry.<br>"Well, if all is settled I think we'll go home now," Arthur Weasley says, turning to Molly. Other Order members nod also and one by one they get up from their chairs. Some leave using the Floo Network and others leave by apparating just outside the front door.

Hermione is staring at her teacup –which Ginny had placed there before leaving the kitchen herself, following Harry - when she hears the chair next to her scrape the floor. Looking up, she looks straight into Ron's blue eyes.

"Hi," he says simply, a tentative smile on his lips.

"Hi," Hermione says back. Ron has been acting strange since they had found out she is actually a pureblood, so she doesn't know what to expect now.

"For what it's worth, I think you look very beautiful," Ron says, stunning Hermione into silence.

As the silence stretches, he suddenly seems to realize what he has just said and stammers, "N-Not that you didn't look beautiful before - you were very beautiful - but you are now, too. I just wanted to help you feel a little better because things can't be easy for you. I can't even begin to think about how

I would react if I had to go through everything you have gone through."

He would have kept on, saying Merlin knows what, but Hermione stops him. "That's very sweet of you, Ron."

Silence takes over the two of them again. Hermione is staring at the teacup, both of her hands holding it, when Ron speaks again, surprising Hermione for the second time that day.

"Look, Hermione, I know I have been awful to you for the past week but I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me." His blue eyes are staring, intently and sorrowful, into her bright blue ones. For a moment she stares back and then a smile appears on her face.

"How can I possibly not forgive you when you look at me like that?" She lets go of her teacup and hugs him.

"I missed you," she mumbles in his shoulder.

It doesn't take long before Ron put his arms around her and hugs her back.

"I'm sorry," he says again. "I've been such an idiot, to think that you would change because you found out who you are. I acted like myself and didn't think, when I should've talked to you instead, and in the meantime you have been sick and still you're not feeling well. Oh 'Mione, I have been the lousiest boyfriends you could have imagined but still you have been patient, like you have always been. How could I possibly make it up to you now?"

Hermione leans back. Tears roll down her cheeks. "A kiss would help." She smiles through her tears.  
>Ron wipes them away with his thumb and then leans in and kisses his girlfriend, for the first time in a week.<p>

XXX

At that same moment, hundreds of miles away, a boy screams in agony and clutches his heart. A second later he falls to the ground, not able to get up anymore. Severus Snape looks up, surprised, at his godson before he makes his way over to him.

He lays there, screaming in agony. The pain hasn't been this bad for a few weeks. He had hoped the pain wouldn't come back again. Surely it will not now, when they are on a mission.  
>It feels like there are a thousand knives piercing his heart. He is vaguely aware of his godfather looking worried at him, shaking him.<p>

But there isn't any logical thought at the moment. Just pain. Only pain. And he knows exactly the reason for the pain. His mate, who he can't live without, is kissing someone else.

The pain stops, suddenly. The only thing Draco Malfoy can do is lay there, breathing, enjoying the loss of pain and the ability to think again.

"I need to take you home," his godfather says strongly, with an worried undertone.

Draco nods his head.

**AN 2: **The chapter has again been corrected by my wonderful Beta the lovely **Sarah Liz B**.


	4. Chapter 3, White walls and high ceilings

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs solely to the rightful author. I am making no profits out of this.

**AN: **This story had been corrected by my lovely beta **Sarah Liz B**.

_**Chapter 3**_

The next morning begins with a shining sun, not a cloud to be seen. It promises a nice day, the first one in weeks. Ginny is busy making breakfast when Ron comes into the kitchen, yawning.

"Good morning Ron." Ginny smiles and puts a steaming cup of coffee before him.

"Morning," he mumbles back, taking some toast and jam.

Not long after him, Harry comes in the kitchen.

"Morning," he says while taking a cup of coffee for himself.

"Hermione not awake yet?" asks Ginny, a little worried.

Ron shakes his head and yawns. "Nope, still sleeping."

Ginny doesn't answer but looks at her toast with a determined look.

"Alright, what are you thinking Ginny?" asks Harry. Ron is too busy eating his toast to notice anything going on.

"I think she should go see a nurse," Ginny starts. Harry starts shaking his head. "It's too dangerous." He pours some milk on his cereal.

"She's not well, Harry! And she has been like that for a while now. You can't let this happen. What if it kills her?" Ginny says indignantly.

Ron looks up, surprised, and casts a worried glance at Harry, who has gone pale.

"Would it kill her?" asks Ron, worried.

Ginny rolls her eyes and huffs indignantly. "I don't know! But we have to be careful. She sleeps a lot lately and still looks tired. And don't forget her pounding head or her feeling the room spin." For extra emphasis she looks at Harry first and then at Ron.

Harry still looks pale and looks now at his cornflakes, mushing them up a bit more.

"We have to get her some medical help," Ron says, convinced. Harry looks up at Ron and then nods his head. "But she is on the Wanted list. We have to be careful."

"I'll go with her. It will be safer if there are Order members with her and Kingsley Shackelbolt is also free today. He can go too. We can protect her. I doubt there will be many Death Eaters walking around in St. Mungo's."

Everybody looks up, surprised to see Lupin. Nobody has heard him come in, so nobody knows how long he has been standing there.

First there is silence and then Harry speaks. "You're not going to protest?"

Lupin shakes his head. "Ginny is right. She is not looking well but besides, it's nothing for Hermione to still be in bed this hour."

Harry nods his head. "Thank you Remus," he says quietly.

Lupin walks behind Harry and puts a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You're welcome, Harry."

XXX

In St. Mungo's, where the walls are white and the ceilings are high, Hermione is tapping her foot impatiently in the waiting room. Next to her, Ginny is casually flipping through a magazine, seeming to read it intensely. Kingsley Shackelbolt and Remus Lupin are in the foyer. During the war, St. Mungo's stayed put and has hardly any damage. It seems that the dark side has left the hospital as it is, seeing no real risk in it, only benefits. Hermione really doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. She feels well today. She isn't feeling dizzy or sleepy at all, but Ginny, and even Ron, had still insisted. Hermione is irritated above all else. Irritated because they organized everything behind her back and without her consent, so she really has had no say in the matter.

Ginny puts the magazine down and looks at the annoyed girl next to her.

"You're mad."

Hermione crosses her arms and mutters. "No, I'm not."

The scene is very comic so Ginny can't help herself but laugh, which makes Hermione look at her through narrow eyes.

"No?" Ginny asks laughing.

Hermione recognizes her mistake and clutches her arms even tighter against her ribs. "I'm irritated," she explains.

Ginny stops laughing and sighs. "We're just worried about you."

"I know," Hermione admits. "But I have a bad feeling." She whispers in a voice that is too low for anyone to hear.

Ginny, who thinks she has muttered something about the waiting time, ignores Hermione and picks up another magazine. She knows that she is best left alone when she is in a mood like this.

Lupin and Shackelbolt, who have been watching the two girls, now look back in the hallway, just in time to see a boy with black hair round the next corner in a hurry.

XXXXX

_Blaise Zabini walks past the waiting room in St. Mungo's and stops in shock. Near the entrance, two Order members are watching two girls talk to each other. His eyes wander to the girl with the wavy blonde hair and blue eyes. _

_He can't believe it. She is really here, and with only two members of the Order and the Weasley girl guarding her. He doesn't ponder how it is possible she is here or how it is possible that she is in company with Order members. This is going to be easy. But he needs to hurry. Quickly he walks away to the Floo point, already scheming a plan in his head. _

XXXX

It feels like hours to Hermione, that she has been sitting the waiting room. She hates waiting, especially in a hospital, so she stands up and walks around the waiting room a bit, then taking a step out into the hallway.

"Don't go far Hermione," Remus warns her.

"Yeah, because otherwise the Death Eaters will jump out of the nurse post and murder me," is her sarcastic reply.

"It's a possibility," comments Kingsley dryly.

As if on cue, a red spell buzzes past Kingsley.

Hermione stares in shock at the corner where suddenly five Death Eaters have appeared. Kingsley and Remus immediately go into defence mode and fire a few spells at the Death Eaters.

Remus takes Hermione by her hand and pulls her behind a wall that Kingsley and Ginny are creating for her. But she is Hermione Granger… Naberrie and no one can make her huddle into a corner during a fight.

She already has her wand in her hand and is about to send a spell buzzing a Death Eaters way when Remus gives her another shove. Surprised by it, she almost loses her balance and inevitably she takes a few steps back. Spell after spell buzz past her head and, trying to defend herself –without getting pushed away by Remus- she takes a few more steps backwards.

Finding a hole in the wall of people in front of her she prepares herself to fire a spell, but suddenly a red spell is fired through that same hole, right past Hermione's ear. Shocked by it she takes another two steps back, finding it irritating that she can't defend herself properly. Her dizziness has appeared again –though she'd said she was fine- and the room is spinning before her eyes again. She kept retreating, blinking her eyes and hoping the spinning will go away. She is still stepping backwards, not seeing where she is heading but looking at the fight before her. This is her mistake. The Order members and Ginny are busy fighting with the five Death Eaters, so they don't notice that Hermione is missing.

She takes more steps when another spell, this time a purple one, flies past. She jumps and screams but it's muffled by a hand. A mouth by her ear whispers, "Don't be afraid, Sophia. Everything is going to be alright."

She could swear she recognizes that voice but she can't place it. She is so afraid of what they might do with her that she doesn't realise that he is calling her Sophia and not Hermione. The hand is still on her mouth and the other is holding her close to him. "Now, come quietly with me."

She is breathing franticly and waiting for the moment that he will take his hand from her mouth, but the person behind her is smarter than that. He takes her arm in his free hand and turns her around, making sure her mouth is still covered. Hermione looks up, surprised, at Blaise Zabini. She tries to get loose, but he has a strong grip on her arm.

He pushes her to the wall and keeps her mouth covered. Hermione is sweating and still panting hard. Her heart races up when he takes his wand and points it at her. She curses her mysterious illness for feeling so helpless.

Looking as pale as a ghost, her blue eyes wide, she looks into his crystal blue eyes. They are much lighter than hers.

"_Silencio,_" he mutters, a white glow spreading from his wand.

He takes his hand from her mouth and takes both of her arms. Hermione, relieved, lets in a breath of air before gasping in surprise when Blaise drags her with him. Struggling in vain due to his strength, she takes one more look behind her where Remus, Kingsley and Ginny are still fighting, not noticing she is being dragged away.

He pulls her out of the hospital, now empty of anyone who can help her. Once outside, he turns her to him and says, "It's time to get out of here."

Hermione pales even more. They are going to Apparate. For some unknown reason she hates co-apparition, she always has but never has she wondered why. Hermione thinks that it may have been due to something that had happened before she had gotten 'amnesia'. It is no wonder that she is surprised when Blaise pulls her close, much closer than normally required for Apparition. An arm is placed just below her shoulder blades, the other on her head, pulling it to his chest.

"Do not worry. I am excellent in Apparition. There's only one person you could feel safer with."

Wondering why he would care and how he would know, she disapparates with him, without leaving even the smallest trace.

XXXX

Hermione's friends are completely stumped as to where she has been taken and by whom.

Not Shacklebolt, Lupin or Ginny had seen anything. She is just gone. Disappeared and they fear the worst.


	5. Chapter 4, An easy exit

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the world of Harry Potter. If I did the books would have looked a bit different and I wouldn't be writing this.

**AN: **This chapter has been corrected by my lovely beta **Sarah Liz B.** Who I can't thank enough.

_**Chapter four**_

The hallway of the manor is eerily silent until there is a loud crack, the sound bouncing of the marble walls.

Blaise stands there in the middle, holding a trembling girl. He gives her one more reassuring stroke of her hair and then lets her go. Pointing his wand at her, her blue eyes widening again, he whispers, "_Finite Incantatem._"

The silencing spell falls off of her. He puts his wand in his sleeve, then he takes her wand in his hand and with his other hand takes her wrist. Again, dragging her along after him.

Hermione blinks several times with her eyes and is relieved to see that her dizziness is fading. Finally realizing that he doesn't know she is in fact Hermione Granger but the girl on the Wanted poster, she tries a thing Hermione Granger never would have done.

They were just around the next corner when she starts talking. Or to be more exact, starts whining. "Where are you taking me?"

"Be quiet, Sophia. Everything will be explained to you in time."

A thought crosses Hermione's mind. Had they found out that Sophia –she is now convinced her real name is in fact Sophia- still lived? Did they want her back, to serve Voldemort loyally, like her parents seem to have done?

"Where are we?" she asks again, still using the whiny voice.

Blaise suddenly stops and tugs on her wrist so she that is standing very close to him.

"Since when did you adopt such a whiny voice?" he asks, annoyed.

Dumbstruck, Hermione looks at Blaise. He knows who she is and more of all, he remembers.

"And since you asked so nicely, we're at Malfoy Manor. Now can we get along?" he turns away from her.

"I won't turn to your side," she says suddenly with a strong voice. In an instant she changes her plan again and uses her own striking confidence.

Idly, she wonders what they are even doing in Malfoy Manor, but she easily pushes the thought aside.

Blaise turns back around and lets go of Hermione's wrist, confusion written all over his features. "What?"

"Just so you know," Hermione said, standing a bit straighter, still sure that she has found the reason why they want her unharmed. She wonders how they have found out that she is still alive, even before she herself knew her true appearance, how she looks now.

"What are you talking about?" Blaise has now turned around completely and she has his full attention.

"Just because I turned out to be the lost Naberrie daughter doesn't mean I will betray my friends and join the dark side." She folds her arms in front of her chest and looks Blaise straight in the eye. While saying this, she forgets that he doesn't know that she is Hermione Granger, the girl he has known for years.

From confusion, Blaise's expression turns to complete shock. "How do you know that? Don't tell me you've known all these years! And why did you stay hidden then?" It looks as though Blaise is hurt.

But Hermione doesn't see that; no, she gets angry. Every thought about escaping, running away or even getting her wand back crosses her mind.

"No! The question should be how do you know? And don't tell me you've known for all these years," Hermione shouts, frustration written all over her face.

Blaise takes a step closer to her and says, as calm as when the discussion had started, "We knew when Draco's symptoms started last month that you weren't dead after all. We were so relieved. Aunt Cissa retired as soon as the news was told but Pansy knows her well enough to know she cried. Cried in relief because you, the daughter she had always wanted, was still alive. But we still didn't know where you were or who you were." He looks a bit sad at that, but then an angry glint forms in his eyes. "And now you're telling me you have known all along and you wouldn't even search for us?"

It is quiet for a moment as Blaise searches for his words. "So Aunt Cissa called for the _seer_ again. The same one who had told Aunt Cissa and Uncle Lucius when Draco was born that you were going to be his mate." Blaise speaks quietly, slowly, but there is still anger shimmering in his eyes. It is only indicator that he is angry.

Hermione's hostile attitude has changed into a quiet, confused one. "What has Malfoy got to do with any of this?" Her arms hang again at her sides.

Again, it is Blaise's turn to be confused. The whole conversation just doesn't seem to make any sense.

"Hold on." He throws his arm in the air and makes a halt sign, walking the last few steps to her. He's standing so close to Hermione that she takes a step backwards.

"Tell me what you know and how, Sophia," he demands.

Hermione pauses and doubts for a second if she should say anything. But he has been honest too, though nothing has made much sense, so she takes a breath and tells him everything she knows.

She tells him about the letter and about Ginny looking up the information. She tells him another letter came, changing her into her real appearance. And she tells him that at that same moment her picture had been all over the front page of the _Daily Prophet_.

Blaise looks a bit bewildered and shocked. "He just sent her a letter from the grave. How eerie is that?" he mumbles at first, before shock spreads over his face. "Wait! You said Ginny. You mean the Weasley girl? How do you know her? Have you been going to Hogwarts too? Why didn't you try to get in contact with us Sophia?"

Hermione bites her bottom lip in thought. Should she say anything? Would she be in more danger then she is in now? His blue eyes are piercing hers so she decides to tell him something. "Yes, I went to Hogwarts. And I didn't look for you or anybody else because I remember nothing. Even after I found out, I didn't remember anything." Hoping he will forget his other question she stares, determined, back at him.

A looks of sadness fills his eyes. Very slowly his hand comes up and strokes some lost blonde hair out of her face. "I'm sorry you don't remember." His hand gently strokes her cheek and then grasps her chin, making her look straight into his eyes. "But you still didn't tell me who you were."

Hermione feels uneasy by his familiar touch but is mesmerized by his blue eyes who seem very familiar to her. Without knowing why, she heard herself say, "Hermione Granger."

Blaise doesn't shout or cursed. He simply stares straight in her bright blue eyes a little while longer. Then he surprises her by taking her hand and walking, brining her along behind him.

"Wait! Aren't you going to explain anything at all?" She has snapped back to her old self and is demanding again.

"Not here I'm not."

"Hmpf, men," she huffs, irritated, walking alongside him, taking from him the pleasure of towing her behind him.

"You owe me some explanations."

"That I do, princess," Blaise answers sarcastically.

Blaise stops at a dark wooden double door. He takes one look at her and then opens one of them. Taking a step aside to let her enter first, she walks into what she assumes is a sitting room.

It is small and dark, but somehow cozy. A huge fireplace is on her right side but it is unlit due to the heat of summer.

There are two loveseats sofas, which looked very comfortable, next to the fireplace, facing each other.

A single sofa, with the same dark color as the others, stands straight in front of the fireplace but behind the other sofas, giving the room the appearance of a square.

Two windows in the wall near the door give a view of a beautiful grass field. The sun is shining and no cloud is to be seen for miles, but even the sun has difficulty in lighting up this dark room.

Hermione doesn't dare to go in more than the few required steps. When she finishes looking around, she turns and looks at Blaise, who's still standing in the doorway.

"Wait here. I'll come back and then everything will be explained." He turns away and closes the door.

Leaving Hermione alone. Scared, wandless and very confused.

For a moment she just stares at the closed door before realizing that there's only one thing she can do. Try to escape. She pushes away her confusion and fear, and takes two steps to the door. She pulls and pushes at it but it won't yield. Finally she gives an angry kick at it and turns away. "It was worth a try," she says to herself.

Her eye catches the windows. She is on the ground floor so that should be an easy escape. Not really believing they will open, she takes slow steps to the window on her left. The handle of the two door windows opens easily. When she opens the window, a slight breeze enters the room and the sound of a songbird fills the silence.

Taking a deep breath, she first takes a peek out of the window. Not seeing anyone outside she takes one more look behind her before jumping on the windowsill and out the window. She lands with a soft thud on the grass.

Straightening up, Hermione takes one more surprised look into the room and then quickly walks away from the open window, still not really believing she has escaped that easily.

She walks off to the left again., Why she does that, she doesn't know and how to get out of here is still a mystery. But at least she is out of the room, at least she has escaped easily. Now, the more she thinks about it, she is afraid there might be a reason why she could escape so easily. Not finding a reason as to why they would want her to escape so quickly, she shakes the thought away.

Hermione girl of principles, or at least, she has been raised that way. She needs to get back to her friends because they need her. If she is honest - and a bit selfish - she needs them. They are all she has left. Hermione has one big fear: being alone. She doesn't know why or how, but knows she needs Ron.

But a voice deep inside herself tells her something she has always known. Even with her friends and with Ron, she still feels alone.

Rounding a corner, she comes to a sudden halt. Gone is the grass and the nothingness. Now there are well-kept flowers, bushes, trees and gravel. This is a part of the garden where the residences would wander on a nice day like this.

Hermione still doesn't see anyone but she doesn't take her changes and walked a few steps backwards, planning to go past the other side of the house. Turning around, she almost runs into the chest of a man that is close behind her. She gasps and walks a few steps back, hitting the brick wall behind her.


	6. Chapter 5, A blue leather book

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the world of Harry Potter. If I did the books would have looked a bit different and I wouldn't be writing this.

_**Chapter 5**_

The man in front of her, dressed in black, takes a few steps closer, effectively cutting off any chances of escape.

He doesn't say anything but stares at her, his silver eyes absorbing every detail of her face. His broom hangs forgotten in his hand, the sight of her being the probable the reason.

Hermione watches him in shock. Shock because that he has found her and shock because of his state. He looks pale, even for him. His eyes have huge dark circles under them. They are even more pronounced then hers.

The silence lasts only for a heartbeat. Then the broom falls to the ground, not making a sound on the soft grass, as at the same time Draco breaths, "Sophia."

Then she is in his arms, as he holds her close to him, his face buried in her hair.

Too startled, Hermione doesn't push him away or yell. She stiffness as she hears a distant yell and a shout coming from the open window a few yards away. They must have discovered that she isn't in the room anymore. A sick feeling is settling in the pit of her stomach and then with a jolt she realizes she should have been feeling this a few moments ago. Instead she feels comfortable and she feels a lot better than she has felt in the last few weeks.

Draco releases her at that moment but keeps a hold on her by her upper arms.

He is smiling now. A little colour has returned to his formerly pallid face, but the fatigue is still there. "How did you get here?" he asks.

"I was abducted but just escaped through the window," she hears herself say. Why she is being honest she doesn't know. Perhaps it is because she, weirdly enough, feels safe with him.

Draco casts a quick look at the window. It is now silent there. He hadn't heard the yelling a few moments ago.

When he looks at her again a smirk is playing on his lips. "So much for escaping then." His smirk turns into a smile, taking Hermione's breath away. She has never in her life, or at least as far as she can remember, seen him smile. He'd always had a smirk or a scowl on his features.

"Now, in we go." The smile is still playing on his lips.

He takes her hand, picks up his broom, and drags her through the well-kept garden and into the house through an open door.

Dragging her in almost the same way Blaise had done a few minutes ago.

Walking down the hall with Draco Malfoy evokes strange feelings within Hermione. Somehow she feels safe and she has the feeling that she can trust him. When she knows she mustn't. It almost seems like a warm glow is floating between their hands. Coming to that thought, she shakes the feeling off her. Something is going on and she wants to know what it is. She wants to know why she is wanted unharmed, for a much higher price than Harry.

She decides to take a few quick steps so that she is walking next to Draco instead of behind him. Looking at him, Hermione sees that he is still smiling and not even looking at her.

"Where are we going?" she tries, speaking in a normal voice and not the whiny one she had tried with Blaise.

"Looking for the rest of my family, who are probably now looking for you." Suddenly he stops and his grey eyes look at her. "Mentioning that. Who exactly brought you here?" They are now standing in a bright hallway, light from the glass outside door brightening up the pale yellow walls and the white marble floor. It is strange what a huge contrast it is compared to the room she was put in.

"Zabini abducted me at the hospital," she says, not looking at him but at the wall behind him.

"Then we certainly need to find him," he commands, still sounding happy. Draco starts walking again and this time she goes with him so that he doesn't have to tow her around.

"And when is it I will be told what on earth is going on?" She had first hoped her question of where they were going would enlighten her, but it is too much to hope for. Hermione also wonders why he is not asking questions as to who she is, or had been for most of her life, before that letter changed everything.

Now Draco stops again and looks at her, shocked. "They still didn't tell you?"

Frustrated, she throws up one hand (the other is still stuck in his hand and it doesn't seem he will let go) in the air. "I always get to hear later! If I'm not here because I'm a Naberrie then what in Merlin's name is going on?"

Draco looks surprised. "You know you're actually named Naberrie?"

So he does know that she knows nothing about her past. But that much seems obvious, otherwise she might have tried to find them, if they were indeed the people she knew in her past.

"Yes! And that's also the only thing, let me tell you that, so don't you insult me like Zabini did. Blaming me about knowing something. I know nothing. I got a letter a few days ago explaining I was a Naberrie and Ginny found a little information in books, but that's all I really know." Hermione is breathing deeply, in and out. It is a good way, she has learned, to calm herself.

Draco looks a bit taken aback by her outburst. It doesn't take long though before he finds his composure. Taking a step closer to her, he brushes his free hand lightly over her face. "Calm down, love, and don't worry. I shall first explain everything to you."

Hermione's breathing staggers when he touches her. Why is he calling her 'love'?  
>He does seem to wonder when she mentions Ginny but he has been more focussed on calming her down than ask her for explanations. She can see on his face the wonder of that situation.<p>

"Let's go to the library," he adds brightly, not noticing her discomfort by his familiarity.

"The library?" she asks, surprised.

"Yes, it will be much easier to explain by the hand of well informed books."

XXXX

Hermione is relieved that they don't see a soul while they walk to the library. Draco has taken her up a set of stairs and through the main hall right in front of another set of stairs. He has told her that the west wing was the wing of his parents and the east wing was his own. He has added, with a wink and a smile, that it is also her wing. She doesn't understand what he means so she keeps quiet and follows him through a grand door into the library.

When they enter she halts in awe, looking at the grand room with walls full off books. There is even a tiny set of stairs which lead to another level where there are more rows of books. In the middle are deep blue sofas placed upon fluffy carpet in the same color. There is also a grand fireplace, which Hermione thought would give a cozy and warm feeling in the winter evenings.

The wooden floor is a deep warm brown color and the walls are painted white with blue accents. The library almost looks like heaven.

Hermione loves books. She loves cuddling up in a sofa with a blanket and reading a good fantasy book or a romance book. Unlike in her Hogwarts time, when she was a bookworm and would have read almost every book, she now has a specific taste. She had always thought she had inherited that from her mother, but now she isn't so sure anymore.

"Do you like it?" Draco asks her.

She can only nod and a smile graces Draco's features again.

He takes her to one of the sofas and lets her take a seat, while he sits on the armrest, still holding her hand. She tries now to get her hand free, but to no avail. He has an even stronger hold on her now. Is he still afraid she will run? She has nowhere to go, so why should she run from here?

"Now tell me. What do you know about _Veela_?"

His thumb is now making little circles on her hand. She doesn't like the fact that it soothes her.

"Veela?" she asks, confused. "They are girls who are very beautiful and attractive to men. During the Triwizard Tournament at school there was this girl Fleur who was part Veela. She is now married to Bill."

Draco grimaces at that. "Right, married to a weasel."

Hermione rolls her eyes and lounges back in the sofa. They are very comfortable and now that she is finally sitting she starts feeling how tired she actually is.

"Is that all you know?" he asks, taking the liberty of stroking her hair with his other hand.

She slaps his hand away and sits up immediately, moving to sit on the other side of the chair. It is still not far enough away for her liking because he is still sitting on the armrest.

"Okay then." He doesn't seem to have realised that she's slapped him away, that her eyes are burning with questions about his behavior.

Taking out his wand, he summons, "_Accio book, 'The Male Veela'_." A blue leather book comes flying into his hand and he places it on her lap.

She moves so she that is in the middle of the chair again as he opens the book and lays it open to a page, signing to her that she should read. She gives one more dismissive wave with her hand and is relieved that he finally lets go. Casting her eyes down to read, she feels him again stroking her hair. She tries to shake him off again and he sighs. "Just read the damn text, Sophia, and let me."

"Why?" She looks up and stares daggers at him. She is so on edge because she feels comfortable with him and that scares her.

"Read it and you will know," he snaps right back.

Casting her eyes down again - and feeling his hand in her hair again - she starts reading.

_Male Veela are very rare in their kind and are protected by the ministry. In contrary to female Veela, which are also more common, male Veela need their mate to survive. They need her before they become fully of age at the age of twenty-one._

_Symptoms begin to occur in the month before the Veela's twenty-first birthday. If the Veela and his mate are not together, they will both feel different symptoms. Insomnia, dizziness, headaches and a feeling off loss are a few of the symptoms which can occur. It is not known if each symptom will affect the mate but a minimum of two of them will always be experienced._

_If the mate and the Veela are together, he will feel a constant need to touch her as if to reassure him that she is still there. Even after mating occurs, the male Veela will feel the need to continue it, although it will be less pronounced if they're together from the start than if they come together just before the Veela's twenty-first birthdayS. This also affects the possessiveness and dominance of the Veela._

_When the mate is with someone else, the Veela will feel an unbearable pain. It is, for this reason, very important to keep the mate away from other men, unless it is a man who the Veela will trust with his life. This is mostly only one or two men, usually his father and best friend. Such men are the only ones able to touch the mate. Even after the mating, no men should touch the mate or the Veela will suffer severely. It is necessary to mention that the mate needs to be a virgin before the mating, due to the above mentioned reasons. If the male Veela hasn't mated with his mate by his twenty-first birthday, he will suffer more and more until he ultimately dies. His mate, on the other hand, will recover after a month without any lasting symptoms._

_A male Veela isn't free to choose who his mate it. It is chosen for him, decided by magic. A seer is mostly asked for at the birth of an Veela. Such a person is talented to foresee the future and has the talent to see who the Veela's mate is. This comes in handy for the family of the boy seeing as they can take measures to take care of the girl._

_Veela males are very dominant and easily become jealous, but they are also known to love and cherish their mate their whole life. They are also known to have some power over their mate (to be discussed in later chapters) and this view is mostly seen as only fair, given that the mate has the power of life and death over her Veela. Veelas are one of the most loyal creatures ever known in the magical world.  
><em>

_More information can be found in later chapters. _

Hermione stares at the page a little more. It is a short introductory chapter of a book about male Veela. She has even never heard of such a thing, let alone thought they existed.  
>In the meantime, Draco is still brushing her hair with his hand, seeming very content in doing only that.<p>

She gasps when she suddenly understands and gets up so fast that the book tumbles to the ground. Draco watches her in surprise, his hand still hanging in the place where her head had been only a few moments before.

"You're a male Veela? Oh, don't tell I'm your mate." She points her finger at him and her mouth is still hanging open, rather unattractively, from shock.

A smirk spreads on Draco's face again. "Then I won't tell you."

XXX

**AN: **I posted a lot sooner then I normally would, but I'm going on a holiday for two weeks. So it will take a while before something will be posted again. That's why I'm giving you this chapter already =)  
>Hope you liked it!<p>

**AN2: **This chapter has one again been corrected by the lovely **Sarah Liz B.** Who is also my beta throughout this story.


	7. Chapter 6, Green silk pillow

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything. Everything belongs to the rightful owner. I just made up this story and am making no profit out of it.

**AN: **I'm so sorry for the long holdup. But here it finally is. I also have some news.

**Sarah Liz B **will be from now on my beta for this story. She has already corrected the previously five chapters (and the corrected versions are already put up) and she has corrected this chapter already for me.

So if you want to read the previously chapters with correct grammar and other correct things go ahead! Or you can just read this one. Have fun! ^^

_**Chapter 6**_

Hermione clasps her hand over her open mouth in shock. "That's why I needed to be found so quickly!" Her voice is a notch higher than it usually is, due to shock.

Draco slides from the armrest onto the sofa and lounges back. "I'm in high ranks with the Dark Lord and he needs me so he wasn't really against our union."

Hermione lets her hand fall from her mouth, finally closing it. Her eyes are still wide, staring at him. Draco stares right back. As he is about to take her hand and pull her to him, she throws them up, frustrated. Walking away from him and to the fire place she mumbles to herself. Turning around again and seeing him watching her with an amused smirk on his lips, she screams a frustrated yell.

"And I guess there's no way out of this?" The question is asked rhetorically - she does not really need an answer.

Finally the shock is gone, but it now seems like tears might leak from her eyes. Hermione feels like crying but doesn't want to in front of Malfoy. She takes a deep breath and tries to push her tears back.

The smirk is gone from Draco's features in an instant. It doesn't take long before he is standing with her, rubbing her back but not taking her into his arms.

She pushes him away again and walks to a sofa, this time a double one, and sits down, her head in her hands.

"Oh Sophia," Draco sighs. "Please don't cry." He goes to sit next to her, rubbing her back and watching her closely.

"Why do you even think you can consol me?" she speaks through her hands. "You're the reason why…" She pauses and looks up at him, her eyes red from the few tears that had already leaked. "I don't even know how to feel," she confesses.

Draco slowly wipes away a few remaining tears. "I don't think I'm the right person right now to consol you. But I simply can't stand that you're upset and I know that there's nobody in this house who can possibly consol you. Frankly, I want to be the person who consoles you, because I love you and I always will."

A sob escapes from Hermione and before she knows it more tears, the ones she doesn't want to show him escape her. She throws her head in her hands again and lets him pull her to him, too tired to fight him and his comfort. If she is honest with herself, she feels safe and comforted with him.

Draco lies back in the sofa pulling her with him, holding her close and rubbing circles on her back. Occasionally giving a kiss on the top of her head.

When her tears have dried, she finds herself being soothed by the steady beat of his heart, by his even breathing. She feels herself falling asleep. Having known that she was tired when she'd entered the room, she knows it is useless to fight sleep now. She lets the darkness take her and pull her away into unconsciousness.

A small smile is playing on Draco's lips while he strokes her hair. She is finally asleep and getting the rest she so desperately wants. He cares for her and blames himself that he didn't even try to find her, also believing with everyone else that she had been dead. That she isn't dead is a huge relief for him. He can feel the happiness thudding inside of him. While he watches her sleep, his Veela-inner self content, he begins to wonder who she really was. Where had she been all these years? It seems like she doesn't remember anything but she does know him. There are a lot of questions she needs to answer but for now he is just happy to hold her. He'd thought she was beautiful before and she still is now. She is a tall girl and skinny, just like her mother. She was, in fact, the exact image of her mother, except for the blonde hair. While her mother's hair had been a dark brown, Sophia's is a golden blonde. Her eyes are also the same bright blue as her mother. Draco does remember Aunt Catherina and Sophia. She had been his best girlfriend. They had always been together, like best friends. After the murder of her parents, and believing she had died too, Draco'd had a hard time getting over it. His parents had been grieving as well, but they'd also been concerned about him. Sophia had been his mate; if she had died his symptoms would probably never appear. But still they let his godfather teach him everything.

The symptoms had appeared a month ago, and not like the _seer_ had predicted. Draco had kept seeing Sophia and slowly suffered away. After a while he'd even stopped sleeping, scared of seeing her in his dreams and believing it was only fate teasing and playing with him. He thought he would never find her. But Blaise had and she lives, sleeping so sweetly on his chest. Draco thinks he has never felt more alive in his life.

He strokes her hair again and watches her sleep, the smile still gracing his lips. Blaise and Pansy also have some vague memories of Sophia and of her parents. When they had found out she must, in some way, still be alive they had revealed memories they had of her to each other. Pansy had thought that it would in some way help Draco through his pain, but it only turned worse so they had stopped. He had heard enough of them to know they had missed her too. Sophia had been Pansy's best friend. Pansy is not a girl who easily gets along with other females, but with Sophia she always had a sisterly bond. To Blaise they had been like brother and sister too.

From when they were little, Draco and Sophia had been told that they were meant for each other. When they got older, however, this turned Draco into becoming possessive of her and calling her 'My girl'. His parents never tried to stop him because it is a Veela trait and for them it was normal, but he can remember a lot of arguments with his parents and her parents over that.

"Draco? Are you in here, mate?" The voice of Blaise speaks up behind him.

Their sofa was its back against the entrance.

"No, I'm not," he answers, the smile still not leaving his lips.

"I have something to tell you."

He hears how Blaise walks into the library. His friend can't see Sophia because she is lying with her head on Draco's chest.

"Tell me." Draco looks down at Sophia again, lightly brushing lost hairs from her face.

"I'm sorry, mate." Blaise is still a few feet away from Draco and Draco has yet to look behind him.

"For what?" he asks, now intrigued and looking behind him for the first time.

Blaise looks at him, surprised. "You look better," he says.

"Why are you sorry? I should be thanking you." Draco ignores Blaise's comment.

"No, you shouldn't. I had Sophia and I even brought her here, but she escaped and we've looked everywhere but we can't find her anymore." Blaise casts his eyes down, ashamed to inform his best friend of his failure.

Draco smiles and looks back at Sophia, stroking her hair again.

"Hmm… Did you really look everywhere?" Draco can't help himself, he loves teasing Blaise. If Blaise were in Draco's position, he would do the same. They have, after all, been best friends since they were babies.

Blaise looks up, surprised, hearing the teasing in Draco's voice. "She's here. Isn't she?" He takes a few long strides to the sofa, looking down from the back and seeing Sophia there, sleeping.

"You couldn't have told me, could you? We have been looking everywhere and all this time she has been with you!" Blaise wants to slap Draco across the head but Draco is making a silencing gesture, pointing at Sophia.

"She has been." He smiles and takes Sophia in his arms while he stands. She stirs a bit but sleeps on.

"How did you find her?" Blaise is now speaking softly too, not wanting to wake Sophia up.

"I was flying on my broom, needing to shake every thought out of me after not sleeping again for the whole night."

They are now walking out of the library, towards the east wing.

Blaise sighs. "That's really no cure for not sleeping, Draco."

"I know." Draco doesn't put up a fight with Blaise, as he would have if anyone else had tried to tell him what or what not to do. "When I was flying back, I suddenly saw a girl jump out of a window and make her way to the garden. I was flying high and couldn't see who it was so I was intrigued. Landing, I realized it was Sophia."

They are now walking in the main hall of the east wing. It's wide, with paintings hanging on walls made of white marble. A long blue carpet muffles their footsteps.

"It was so stupid of me, leaving the windows unlocked. I just never really thought she would escape through the window," Blaise confesses. He really feels guilty about her almost escaping.

"You just didn't think about her escaping. I know it is hard but she still sees us as the enemy, though I don't know why. It will take time to convince her otherwise." Draco comforts Blaise. He is too harsh on himself. Blaise is the one who brought her here and because of that reason alone Draco owes him his life.

They halt at a door, which Blaise opens, allowing Draco to enter first. Blaise lingers at the door while Draco places Sophia on the bed. He gives her one more soft kiss and they leave the room.

Closing the door, Draco looks at him and claps him on the shoulder. "Don't be hard on yourself. I owe you my life for bringing her here."

Blaise smiles and then remembers something.

"Here's her wand."

Draco looks at it before he sighs and hides it in his sleeve, next to his own. He feels really bad for keeping her wand with him, but it is the only thing he can do for now.

Turning around, they walk out the hall together. While descending the stairs, Blaise speaks again. "She told me why she sees us as the enemy."

Draco halts mid-step. "Really?"

Blaise keeps descending, not looking up at Draco. "Yes, and it's quite simple actually."

"Well, if it's simple don't you think you can tell me?" Draco snaps, getting annoyed and descending the last stairs. Blaise turns around and looks Draco in the eye, an amused smile forming on his face. "She's Hermione Granger."

Suddenly the marble hallway becomes eerily silent.

XXXXX

Hermione wakes up with her head on a green silk pillow, so it doesn't take long before realization hits her. The things that she has so hoped where dreams are in fact real. A frustrated kick on a pillow doesn't really solve any problems but it still makes her feel better. Looking around the room, she is again struck with awe.

She is lying on a large bed with silken green blankets. The bed itself is made of dark oak and the two nightstands are the same. On her right, is a large window giving a view of treetops and a hill in the distance. In the corner not far from the window was a vanity table. Turning her head to the other side, she notices a door and not far next to it another door, slightly open.

Getting of the bed, she goes to take a look. Inside is a huge walk-in closet with rows of clothes. Looking a little closer, she notices woman clothes. She is afraid they are for her and doesn't dare to look any closer.

Walking out of the closet, she walks straight to the other door, trying not to notice the green in the room. _Malfoy is such a typical Slytherin,_ she thinks. Opening door door she discovers a bathroom with a huge white tub, two sinks and a grand shower. It all seems fit for two people, she notices with growing horror. The bathroom is finely decorated with some red flowers that seem to be growing out of the wall.

_The red might be a touch for me,_ she thinks bitterly, thinking of all the green in the bedroom.

Then she remembers that he doesn't even know who she truly is. Zabini will have probably told him by now.

Going back to the bedroom, where the overall colors are green and black, she finds a place where Draco's Quidditch gear is proudly placed.

She feels her feet walking straight to the vanity, which is made of the same wood as the bed. On it are a few perfume bottles, possibly the fragrances he likes. There are different kinds of hair pins, earrings, bracelets, necklaces and a small make-up set. It is all either neatly tucked away in two drawers or placed on top of the vanity. With shaking hands, she closes the last drawer. Taking a look in the mirror she sees that her color has come back to her and the dark circles under her eyes are almost gone. Not feeling very comfortable with looking at herself and the room, she opens the door and finds herself lost in a huge white hall.


	8. Chapter 7, Diner is served

**Disclaimer: **I still own nothing. The world of Harry Potter belongs solely to the rightful owner. I'm just playing with her characters.

**AN: **I would very much like to thank the wonderful **Sarah Liz B** again, who corrected my mistakes and for her great insight into the world of Harry Potter.

Here is the next chapter! Don't be afraid to tell me what you guys think =)

**_Chapter 7_**

She takes only one step outside into the hallway when a soft pop is heard and a house elf appears. Hermione takes a step back in fright. She just isn't used to house elves appearing suddenly.

"Hello, Miss, my name is Tinky. Master asked Tinky to guide you if Miss wanted to get out," Tinky says with a deep bow.

Recovering from her surprise, Hermione bends her knees and speaks in a friendly tone to Tinky.

"Master?" she asks. Though she can guess it is Draco she still needs to be sure.

The elf enthusiastically nods her head. "Master Draco, Miss."

Though she had known it is him, she still feels a bit sick when hearing his name.

"Where must I be brought to?" she asks, still friendly to the elf.

"To the sitting room, Miss, but seeing the hour, it should be the dining room."  
>Tinky looks at Hermione closely. "I was also instructed to guard you. So no running, Miss, because Tinky will stop you. Tinky doesn't have to listen to you yet, if Miss doesn't tell me to."<p>

Surprised by that answer, Hermione is intrigued. "Why should you even listen to me?"

"Because, if Miss is Master Draco's mate, after the bonding she is also his wife. That is the law, Miss. Then you are also a master in this house, though Master Draco told me it shall not come to this that soon."

Hermione suddenly feels sick. "How come you all know this?"

"Master Draco tells me a lot; Tinky is Master's personal elf so Tinky knows a lot. Master Draco treats me differently to how the other master did, but now Master Draco is Tinky's only master."

Hermione can only nod, only having heard half of what Tinky has said. She feels too sick from hearing what the elf had said before.

She is going to be married to Draco? Well, not technically, but if the bonding with Veelas stood equal to it… She suddenly feels worse.

"Tinky brings Miss to dinner now?" the house elf asks in a friendly manner, not seeing anything amiss.

"No thank you, I'm not feeling that well." Hermione stands up, going to close the door. She wants to get back in the bed again but she realizes that this is probably Draco's room as well as hers. It makes her feels more ill. Still, she gets up, wanting to go to the bathroom, afraid that she might throw up even though she hasn't eaten anything since this morning.

"Miss." She almost hadn't heard Tinky when she'd gotten up and closed the door, and she only looks down at the elf when she pushs the door back open with the help of elf magic. "Miss, Master Draco was afraid you would say this. That's why Tinky needs to bring you down, with or without Miss' cooperation."

Hermione looks at the door again and then sighs. She still feels sick but doesn't want to put the house elf in a difficult position.

"Good, Miss," the elf says, taking her hand and walking with her through the hall.

Entering the dining room, she feels the sickest she's felt all day.

Tinky goes in first and Hermione trails behind in the doorway. Looking into the room, a dark brown table stands, set for six people, she notices. A crystal chandelier hangs in the middle of the room and right in front of the door are two windows, now showing a view of the well kept garden with the flowers, bushes and gravel.

On the right side of the room, near the fireplace, the people she is afraid to see are standing, each with a drink in their hands.

The first one she notices, to her horror, is Draco. He looks at her before even the rest of the room notice the house elf making her way to them. A smile immediately takes over his face, taking a bit of Hermione's sick feeling away. It comes right back again as soon as she notices.

Narcissa Malfoy looks up at that moment, at first with a look of shock before tears well up in her eyes. Lucius places a comforting arm around her shoulder.

The room is quiet now and Hermione stands rooted to the spot. She doesn't dare move, afraid of the people in the room and afraid of her feelings for Draco.

Next to Draco stands Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. By the way they are holding hands, they seem to be a couple.

Silence dawns over the dining room. Hermione stands uncomfortable in the doorway as everyone stands staring at her, their drink forgotten. Draco is the first one to recover and makes his way over to her.

"Good thing you're up. I was beginning to get worried," he says while walking to her. Standing by her, he takes her hand and smiles at her.

"Now, let's go take a seat." Lucius seems to be the second one coming out of the daze they all appear to be in.

Draco guides Hermione to a seat on the right while he takes place on the left. The closest by the door, Hermione notes.

Pansy takes her place on the seat right in front of her and next to her, Blaise. To Hermione's right, Narcissa pulls back the chair and on the other end of the table, Lucius takes place.

After they are seated, silence hangs in the room again. Hermione doesn't want to look up in the faces of her enemies and looks at her empty plate instead, noticing what a fine work it is. She feels like a brick is in her stomach at the thought of eating food as well as the fact that Draco is still holding her hand, sitting closely to her. She wonders why he hasn't said anything about who she really is, how it doesn't seem to bother him. Or hasn't Zabini told him yet?

"Well, a toast on the return of our lost daughter?" It is an attempt of Lucius' to brighten up the room but it feels more like a question.

"Well of course! I had the house elf prepare a feast," Narcissa says. Hermione can hear the tears in her voice and again she wonders how it is that she is so important to this family. Maybe she is so happy because her son won't die. But didn't Zabini says something, when he was angry, about Narcissa being relieved that she isn't dead after all? How can this be?

Hermione once again wishes she had her memories back, like all the people on this table.

Draco must have felt Hermione's discomfort. His thumb rubs circles on her hand. It comforts her, in a way, as long as she doesn't think about it.

"Did the Dark Lord give me some more time off?" Draco asks, taking the attention away from Hermione.

"Well…" The rest Hermione doesn't hear because Narcissa asks Hermione something directly.

When Hermione looks up and around the table she notices the guys are having their own discussion on their side of the table and the girls are now having their own.

She looks at Narcissa with a questioning look. The woman smiles, tears still visible in her light blue eyes. They look like Hermione's eyes, except for the fact that Hermione's are much brighter.

"I asked if you are alright?"

"I'm fine, madam," Hermione answers, quietly but politely. She was raised with politeness and etiquette. It is the Muggle kind but there doesn't seem that there is much difference between them. Hermione has a thought that if she seems docile and accepting she will find a way out faster.

"Oh, my dear," Narcissa says, bringing a shocked hand to her mouth. "It's Aunt Cissa. Don't you remember?"

Pansy on her other side puts a comforting hand on her arm, looking intrigued at Hermione but not saying a word.

"I'm sorry, but I don't remember anything before I was nine."

"Oh!" Tears are now streaming down Narcissa's face. "I'm sorry," she says, getting up and walking out of the room.

Lucius watching her go with a glint of concern in his grey eyes, looks at Hermione and says, "Don't worry about it. She is a bit overstressed for the moment." Then he looks back at Draco and continues discussing the subject they'd been talking about.

When Hermione looks away from them and into the brown eyes of Pansy, dinner suddenly appears on their plates.

"Well, there's no use in waiting for Mother," Draco says, picking up his knife and finally letting go of Hermione's hand.

Lucius nods and starts at his dinner also, continuing their discussion.

Hermione is more poking at her food than really eating any of it. She still feels sick and doesn't feel comfortable at this table. Once in a while she puts a vegetable in her mouth, but that is it.

"Sophia?" The voice is quiet but friendly so she looks up, after the few seconds it took to recognize the name as hers, into the eyes of Pansy. Who is, so it seems, not eating much also.

"Do you want to get your memory back?" she asks when she has her attention.

Hermione stays quiet for a while. "I would really like that," she admits. She really does. She hates not knowing anything.

"Then we'll get it back," Pansy smiles and continues her dinner.

She feels the first bricks of friendship being built. Hermione sees Pansy through different eyes now. She doesn't assume Hermione wants something and acts on it but asks if she wants something. That alone makes Hermione a little less guarded with Pansy. She hadn't really known her in school. Pansy was just one of the friends of Draco Malfoy. Always in the background, quiet.

Hermione stares at her plate again. This all feels so surreal. Grasping everything that had happened today is kind of difficult.

First she was abducted and now she is imprisoned in this beautiful house. It isn't the place she thought she might be taken to. Not only abducted because of what her family name is but because she is the mate of a Veela, the mate of Draco Malfoy. Not many people even knew he was a Veela.

_You have lost your appetite for less_, she thinks bitterly, putting down her fork, having enough of messing up her food.

XXXX

At that same moment in Grimmauld Place, Harry combs his hair with his hands, frustrated, efficiently making it more muddled up.

On the chair right in front of him, Ginny is staring into space, the teapot in front of her completely forgotten. Next to her, Ron is chewing on a muffin, very slowly for his standards.

Molly Weasley is busy with the dishes and the rest of the table is as quiet as the remaining members of the Golden Trio. Lavender, who is again present, helps her with the dishes. Lavender is, in fact, glad that Sophia is gone. She is probably just as evil as her real parents turned out to be. They used to be friends but that seems a long time ago, before she had stolen Ron away from her. Lavender is at least decent enough to keep her mouth shut, seeing the distress at the table.

"I just don't understand. She was there one moment and the next she was gone." Remus is the first one to speak. He has said this a few times already.

When they discovered that Hermione was gone they had called upon every Order member. They have been looking for her the whole afternoon and a large part of the evening, but to no avail of course.

"There must have been another Death Eater who took her from the other side of the hall. We just thought she'd be safe there, but we were wrong." Kingsley says the same thing he has been saying all afternoon.

"The question, of course, is where they have taken her and why," Arthur says.

The question is more why is she so important that there is more money offered for her than for Harry. How they knew this girl is still alive. What they wanted of her.

They also wonder if she is really named Sophia, like stated in the book, or if that is a totally different person. They are relieved the Dark Lord doesn't know she is Hermione Granger. Or at least, they hope that he doesn't know that.

Arthur looks pale, feeling really worried about Hermione. He keeps thinking about the fact that she is only two years older than his Ginny, and what the Death Eaters might do to her. They have heard stories about prisoners and how they sometimes are given to a Death Eater or two for their amusement. Amusement which consisted of rape, torture and sometimes both.

He can't even imagine in which category Hermione might end up. He looks at Ron, who has now buried his face in his hands. Arthur is also worried that Ron's thoughts are along the same line as his.

Hermione had been a beautiful girl before, but the girl she has now turned out to be is absolutely stunning. If Voldemort knows or finds out she is a pureblood, then she may be in for a worse deal. Once there was a girl who was from a respectable pureblood family. She had turned against her family and joined the Order. During a fight she got taken by Death Eaters. Voldemort made her marry one of his single Death Eaters. She is now still locked away in his house. None of the Order members are able to bring down the wards. But if they could, what then? She is still his wife and nothing can be done about that. Unless they can kill him.

Ron lifts his head and looks his father straight in the eyes. Somehow Ron knows what Arthur is thinking of. He shakes his head while tears well up in his eyes. Getting up, he hurries out of the kitchen.

No one has ever seen him cry and they will not see him cry now. Running up the stairs to his room, which he had shared with Hermione, he closes the door quickly and leans against it.

The bed is still rumpled from the evening before and clothes are discarded on the floor. It wasn't usually like this,but this morning Hermione had been angry about deciding things for her and thrown their clothes all around the room, shouting at him and trying to hit him with a few in the meantime. She always had been a bad thrower and hadn't been able to hit him, which made her angrier still.

He can almost smile at that memory. It was only this morning but it seems so long ago. He hasn't seen her since then. Now he feels guilty, blaming himself for what had happened. She didn't want to go and he should have listened to her. Now it is his fault that she has been abducted. They knew she had been in the paper just a day before.

Walking to the bed, he sits down on the side and takes a sweater of hers next to him in his hand. Looking at the fabric, tears well up again. Merlin knows what she must be going through right now.

Though Ron and Hermione shared a room they hadn't had sex yet. Hermione had explained to Ron that she wanted her first time to be special. He had understood, albeit a bit difficultly, and had waited. Ron had planned that special night to be next week, on their two month anniversary. Now it seems like her wish wasn't meant to come true after all. He looks down at the sweater again and a single tear escapes his eye.

He just hopes she's alive and not hurt. He hopes they will find her soon or at least where she was. They needed their spy, but in the meantime he is still unreachable.

Harry had told Ron they will keep trying to reach him until they get him. Ron hopes it will be sooner instead of later.

A knock on the door makes Ron look up and Lavender's head peeps through the door opening. "May I come in?" she doesn't wait for an answer and just enters. It is so typical of her.

"Oh my, what a mess," she says, looking around the room after the door closed again.

A slight smile graces Ron's features now. "Yeah, she was a bit angry this morning."

Lavender purses her lips and nods. "I see."

Taking her wand from her back pocket, she asks, "Mind if I clean?"

A little shake from Ron's head (he is again looking at the sweater in his hands) and Lavender is muttering spells and sweeping with her wand.

A little tug on the sweater makes Ron look up. The room was tidied up in no time and Lavender tugs again at the sweater. He lets go and she slowly folds it with her hands. "The Order will find her Ron," she says, turning around to put it in the closet.

"I hope so."

Turning around again, she kneels in front of him and places a hand on his cheek.

"Should I stay here tonight?"

Ron takes her hand in his and looks down for a second, thinking about her offer. He could use her consolation right now. She is probably the only one in this house who knows him so well.

"If you want to." He looks at her again with soft blue eyes.

A small smile plays at Lavender's lips. "Of course."

Ron will be hers again, in no time.


	9. Chapter 8, Down the rabbit hole

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing, everything belongs solely to the rightful owner.

_**Chapter 8**_

Hermione sits, again with her hand stuck in Draco's, on a dark brown couch in a room in the east wing on the first floor of the Manor. She still feels nauseous, though she hasn't eaten much, and is now watching uncomfortably the two people before her. Blaise and Pansy are actually mimicking their posture. Pansy's hand is also safely tucked away in Blaise's, but with a minor detail - she doesn't seem to mind it one bit.

After dinner, Lucius had excused himself and Draco had taken Hermione again up to their personal wing. Pansy and Blaise had followed them and now they are in the sitting room with an uncomfortable silence.

Hermione is silently waiting for the bomb to drop. After a few minutes, Draco does it. "Somehow I always knew."

Hermione turns her head to stare at him in wonder. A smile is playing on Draco's lips again. Before today Hermione had never seen him smile, today he couldn't stop. "From the moment I met you, you had some kind of spell over me." Slowly he strokes his fingers through her hair.

"You would keep on talking about her for hours. Of course you would never say anything proper, because she was a Mudblood, but I always wondered what that shimmer in your eyes was," Blaise says, shifting Hermione's attention from Draco to Blaise. "When you asked me how we knew you, Sophia, suddenly it all made sense that we didn't notice for all these years. It's really a shame."

"What I do wonder, is how she did get into Gryffindor?" Pansy intervenes.

"Well of course she couldn't be a Slytherin. She believed she was a Muggleborn and Slytherin, of course, doesn't allow Muggleborns," Draco answers.

Hermione has somehow lost her tongue. Did he really just say Muggleborn instead of Mudblood? What happened to him? And why was she enjoying his touch so much? She doesn't even feel like herself anymore.

"And Gryffindor is the best after Slytherin." Hermione is even more surprised to hear Draco say this. Has she really fallen into the rabbit's hole?

Hermione's favorite story has always been _Alice in Wonderland_. Somehow she can't help but feel like she is Alice who has fallen into the rabbit's hole but instead of ending up in Wonderland she ended up a world where she is not who she had always thought she was - the mate of a Veela, which she has never heard of before. Not only is all of that bad, to her it is even worse that the Veela turned out to be Draco Malfoy. And it unnerves her endlessly that she enjoys his touch.

"I do wonder why she doesn't remember anything?" Pansy wonders again.

"Maybe because of the trauma she chose to forget" Blaise answers. Hermione seems to find her tongue again, finding it irritating they are talking like she isn't sitting right here. Shaking her head, she answers Blaise. "If it were trauma I would only have forgotten one memory, not all of them."

Draco smiles at that. "Very right, my love." He places a little kiss on her forehead.

Hermione's breathing staggers. It is the first time he's kissed her, though not a real kiss, but still she feels something warm concentrating from that spot. Again, it unnerves her again, so much so that she loses her tongue again.

"Okay, I need a drink," Draco says and gets up. Walking to the liquor cabinet, he asks, "Anyone?"

"Yeah, thanks mate."

The silence stretches while Draco pours drinks in glasses and he returns with four drinks.

"Here you go, love," he says as last, giving a glass to Hermione and again sitting next to her. His arms casually drop over the couch and thus around Hermione's shoulders.

She stares into the glass at first. The drink he has given her is a deep orange color and has a really strong odor.

"What is it?" she asks, looking up at him. She doesn't want to drink anything –well, actually, she prefers not to drink but had thought that she could maybe use it –she doesn't know.

"Firewhisky, love," he answers before taking a huge swig out of the glass.

She wrinkles her nose at him calling her love again. It just doesn't feel right.

A few minutes pass in silence. Emptying the glass, Draco magically makes it disappear and the silence stretches again. It is like they are all waiting till she says something. Hermione is still trying to wrap her head around everything. She really cannot remember the last time she had been shocked into silence. When Draco places a light kiss at her temple something snaps inside Hermione. She jumps up and walked around the couch. Getting to the back at of the couch she turns around again and looks at the people staring at her.

"I can't do this," she says, throwing her hands up in the air. "This is just too much. I can't do this."

Draco looks behind him at Hermione, surprised about her suddenly getting up so frantically. "I can understand how this must feel…" He doesn't get any further. Hermione shakes her head. "No, you can't. Did you ever get to hear that everything you thought was right in the world isn't? Or that your destiny is already decided for you and you can't choose a thing, let alone get used to it? Because the clock is ticking and there are only a few days left! I just can't do this!" She is taking deep breaths now, trying to calm herself. She has tried to take everything in calmly but she can't do that anymore.

Draco feels his heart pound hurtfully at seeing her so distressed and panicky. Needing to feel her, he gets up and moves around the couch towards her. Taking her hands in his and brushing lost hairs away with his other, he makes her look at him. "Sophia, everything will turn out right. We can take as much time as you need and whatever you need to know, you can just ask any one of us. I understand that now is a stressful time for you but know that in the end everything will turn out right. This is the right thing, otherwise it wouldn't be destiny."

Hermione bites on her bottom lip when crystal-clear tears start filling her eyes again. She has already cried so much today and it seems as though she might still have a lot of crying to do. It almost breaks Draco's heart, seeing the tears fall from her eyes. He can only imagine how he will feel when the bonding has taken place. Then he will be able to feel her and the emotions will be even more pronounced.

Shaking his hands off her and taking a few steps backwards, she shakes her head again. "I don't believe that. You make your own destiny. Your destiny isn't chosen for you." Taking a deep breath again and steadying herself the tears disappear from her eyes and she walks over to the window, trying to calm herself. Everything had finally been right. Everything had finally been good and falling into place, until that letter from Dumbledore, explaining who she is. A few days later, her picture had appeared in _The Daily Prophet_ and then everything went wrong again, then Zabini abducted her. How could everything go so wrong in just a few days? It's like the whole world was turned upside down and she is the only one thinking everything is wrong.

Having calmed down enough, she turns around and faces the people in the room again. Blaise and Pansy are still sitting on the couch and seem to be discussing something but when they notice her they quiet down and look at her. Both have concern on their face for her, which she still thinks is strange.

Draco is leaning against the back of the couch, facing her and watching her quietly. Though he aches to go to her and touch her he fights against it, knowing it would only make her more upset.

Leaning back with her hands on the window-sill, she decides to be honest to them, like they have been with her.

"I can't do this because I have a boyfriend." She is calm again, having gotten over her temporary breakdown.

Pansy gasps in surprise and holds a hand to her mouth. Draco's nose wrinkles in disgust and a grim line settles around his mouth. "Yes," he says, crossing his arms in front of his chest, the grim line still around his mouth. "I have already noticed that."

Surprise takes over Hermione and her mouth –again- drops open unattractively.

"You did?" This time her attention is focused only on Draco.

"Of course I did. I can feel everything, my love. Every time he kissed you I was in agony! But I am curious as to who I need to hex into next week, because nobody touches my girl." A possessive glint shimmers in his grey eyes, which Hermione notices now seem a lighter shade than before. Taken aback by the sudden possessiveness in his tone and eyes, it takes Hermione a while to answer.

In the meantime Blaise and Pansy are throwing uncomfortable looks between the two and while Hermione is composing herself Blaise coughs and pulls a little attention to himself. "Maybe we should leave?" It isn't a statement but more a question.

"Why should you? You two are like brother and sister to us. You know we share no secrets. You can stay Blaise, it is no problem. Sophia will come to her senses anytime now," Draco says to Blaise. It makes Hermione furious. "Come to my senses?" she shouts, standing up straight. "What, do you think that you can just boss me around? I have had enough of that Draco Malfoy and if you even want me to consider ever accepting you as a mate I would certainly not talk about me like I'm not even here. And to answer your question, my boyfriend is Ron Weasley and I would very much like to see you try to hex him into next week. It won't even take long because from the moment he finds out that I am here he will come and save me. Don't worry about hexing him into next week, I'm sure he will hex you even further - maybe even out of this universe. And if he doesn't, which I doubt, I sure will."

An angry glint sparks in Draco his eyes, making Hermione take a step back. Not being armed with a wand has always made her slightly uncomfortable. It isn't that he is visibly getting angry, it is the tiny details she notices in his face which show his anger. It makes him look even more dangerous. He breathes deeply, in and out.

Suddenly the door opens and in barges Severus Snape, his black robes billowing behind him in the same manner when at Hogwarts.

Hermione's mouth drops open and she stares at him in shock. He is a spy for the Order! What is he doing here? Deciding it is best to keep quiet, she closes her mouth and watches the scene unfold before her.

**AN: **Again a great thanks to **Sarah Liz B**, who without her help this story would be full of mistakes =)

I hope you liked this chapter! ^^ Don't be afraid to leave a review and let me know what you guys think, it doesn't have to be long! If you send me a smiley it will make my day, and will help for the next chapter =)


	10. Chapter 9, Sparks fly

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing, everything belongs solely to the rightful owner. I'm just playing with the characters and making no profit out of this.

_**Chapter 9**_

His black orbs scan the room, resting a bit on Hermione before landing on Draco. "I'm awfully sorry to barge in on this little occasion, but this is important Draco."

Draco smiles at Snape. His anger appears to have suddenly gone but Hermione has a strange feeling she will get to see it after Snape leaves the room. "No problem at all."

"You look better, but not cured yet," Snape notes dryly. It sounds to Hermione as though there might be a tick of concern in his voice, but it is so well hidden so she can't be sure.

"I am," Draco says, a happy smile on his face, looking at Hermione next to him. "But all will be well soon."

Hermione is surprised to see she has unconsciously taken the few steps that were between her and Draco and is now standing beside him. _Did he do that?_ she wonders.

Hermione takes her eyes away from Snape when she feels Draco again brushing in her hair. _Couldn't he just stop touching her for a second?_ she wonders, irritated. But she notices his smile and her heart stops beating. Somehow she forgets everything she had said earlier. _He has the most wonderful smile,_ she thinks. She has never seen that smile in her life and in school most people had wondered if he could smile at all. Today it doesn't seem like he can stop.

His hand slides down her hair until it reaches her hand, entwining them together. This, however, brings Hermione out of the strange hypnoses he had over her. He needs to touch her constantly and it kind of freaks her out. She remembers a part of the passage she'd read this afternoon.

_A Veela will feel the need to touch his mate constantly if they weren't together from the beginning._

She will just have to endure his constant grabbing until the Order is here to free her.

"Good to see you are." Snape's voice brings Hermione back to the present. "I am also here considering Sophia."

This gets Hermione's full attention again. She stands up a bit straighter and stops trying to think about what happened a few moments ago and how he did that.

"Yes, I thought you would. Don't worry, Uncle, I know everything I need to know about the ritual later this evening," answers Draco, visibly relaxed around Snape.

This puts Hermione's attention back to Draco. Ritual? Later this evening? What is he talking about? She is here now, isn't she? He will be alright if she is just here. But then she remembers another thing out of the book which she hadn't paid close attention to. Something about the bonding. The nausea she had felt earlier and had dulled was back in full force. She hopes that the bonding or the ritual Malfoy is talking about isn't what she thinks it is.

"You should be, Draco. I taught you that years ago. No, what I am here for is about another problem. The Order is asking, more actually demanding, for my presence. From the message I got, it seems like Hermione Granger has been abducted by Death Eaters. I already went to base but there's no word of her being captured there. So I wondered," Snape drawled in his usual voice.

"Your guesses are never too far away from the truth, are they, Uncle?" Draco says jovially.

Snape's pit black eyes focus on Hermione again. "Strange things. Aren't they Miss Granger, or should I say Miss Naberrie?"

"Strange things indeed. I thought you were loyal to the light side, but apparently Harry is putting too much trust in you. If you had any conscience you would go to the Order right know and tell them I'm here." She can feel Draco's eyes on her, but she refuses to meet his gaze. She knows she will feel guilty if he uses the force of his grey eyes on her. She doesn't really trust what true power he has over her until she fully understands.

"My dear Miss Naberrie. That is, of course, not an option." A smile appears on Snape's face, making him look, if it is possible, more sinister. "Draco is my godson. How can I possibly ever do anything that would hurt him? And I don't even understand how you can think of something that would hurt him this much." The smile is gone at the end of his sentences and now he looks at her with a questioning look. It unnerves her how much it reminds her of her Hogwarts years.

"Sophia still has a bit of difficulty with accepting her faith, Uncle," Draco explains to his uncle. He doesn't like the manner of Snape's voice when he talks to Sophia. "And she still has a lot to learn about Veela's. She can't possibly know." He points his gray stare at his uncle. Snape nods. "I see. Forgive me then, Miss Naberrie."

Something snaps again in Hermione. "Stop calling me a name I can't even remember. I'm still the same person I was a few weeks ago. And though I don't look the same, I'm still Hermione Jean Granger. I will always be." A determined look shines in her bright blue eyes.

"Maybe you were and if so then Hermione Granger will always be a part of you. But you were born Sophia Naberrie and I think you should wear that name with pride. I understand that you still have to get used to it, but the more we use it the more you will. It is your name and we will not call you any other," Draco says, calm and understanding. He's answered some of her unspoken questions, but because of his calmness she is hushed into silence.

She is still looking at him when he turns his attention back to Snape, speaking which so much authority that it surprises her.

"Tell the Order you don't know a thing for now. Tomorrow you tell them she is in the palace of the Dark Lord and the day after that you tell them she has been given to a Death Eater. When they will finally figure out she is here, there will be nothing they can do, because by that time Sophia will have realized that her place is here beside me and on this side of the war."

Snape looks at his godson and smiles. The smile still looks sinister to Hermione and she can't look at it without getting chills so she drops her gaze.

"An excellent idea, Draco. I will leave you now. I assume you have still lots to discuss." Snape bows his head and leaves the room, his robes again billowing behind him.

When the door closes again, Draco turns to Hermione. The angry glint is again visible in his eyes, but it isn't because of what she had said a few seconds ago. It is for what she had said before Snape barged in.

"How did you make me come over to you?" she asks, ignoring his eyes and the uncomfortable feeling because of it.

"When we are bonded I will be able to do a lot more than a simple summoning call," he says taking a stronger hold of her hand.

"Pansy, Blaise. I think Sophia and I will retire for the night. If you wish to stay here you're room is, of course, available."

Blaise looks at Pansy, still in his arm, who nods and then turns back to Draco. "Thanks, mate, I guess we will be staying tonight. If you need anything just give me a call."

Draco nods and leaves the room, thus towing Hermione behind him again. Like she has been towed around the whole day.

Walking through the white hall with the blue carpet, Hermione is beginning to get a bit scared of Draco. The way he is walking, or more marching, the way he isn't even looking behind him to see how he is towing her behind him. It looks like he is about to explode.

"You're mad," is her quiet remark when he opens the door to the bedroom.

He looks at her as if she is kidding. His grey eyes are again that lighter shade that she was unfamiliar with.

Standing inside the bedroom he closes the door with a loud bang, making Hermione give a little jump of fright. Not looking at her he walks, or more marches, into the bathroom, closing that door also with a loud bang.

Hermione stays standing near the door but didn't try to open it. She knows if he finds out that she leaves the room –and knowing he will find her- he will be even more furious. And she knows why he is now furious. She has openly offended and rejected him. Saying she loves Ron more, though not with words, and saying Ron - and even she - is a better wizard than him. She doesn't feel sorry one bit because she should be the one who is furious. Isn't she the one who has been abducted and isn't she the one who just found out she isn't who she thought she is?

Does he really believe she will just accept everything? Her eyes wander around to the bed and her nausea hits her back with full force. What does he expect from her now? The door to the bathroom opens and Draco steps out again, making Hermione focus her eyes back on him.

He just stares at her, standing near the door, as he stands in the doorway to the bathroom. "Of course I'm mad."

Crossing her arms, she straightens her back and looks him in the eye. "You have no right to be mad. I said nothing but the truth."

His eyes flash silver again and anger is visibly written all over his face. Closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his noise, he calms himself. When he opens his eyes again, the silver is gone and he takes long strides till he stands before her.

Pushing her against the wall, he leans in. Hermione's breathing staggers and heat creeps up her body. It is unbelievable how he is able to do that to her. In moments like this she really thinks she belongs to Draco and it is only then that she forgets who she is. Or, rather, who she always had thought she was.

His grey eyes look pained and are only a few lengths removed from hers.

"Can you even begin to imagine how much it pains me to hear you say things like that?"

Hermione's eyes fall to his lips, which suddenly seem so smooth and kissable. Shocked by her own thoughts, her eyes shoot back to his. He notices this of course and the heavy sadness is evident in his eyes. He starts to lean in even further, not expecting an answer of her anymore.

Hermione searches frantically for a way out, but it is useless, seeing as Draco is leaning with his hands on the wall next to her head and caging her. On the other hand, a part of her really wants that kiss she knows is coming. It seems like he is purposely leaning in very slowly, as though he is giving her a chance to make up her mind. Hermione closes her eyes when he is almost touching her lips. As light as feathers, his lips touch hers. And Hermione loses every train of thought as she sees the sparks fly behind her closed eyelids.

Draco, noticing no protest from his Sophia, takes the kiss further. Kissing her and lightly nipping on her bottom lip, she opens her mouth further and his tongue enters. Stroking her tongue with his, one of Draco's hands leaves the wall to stroke through her hair, ending up at the back of her head. Holding his hand there, he makes sure she stays close to him.

Hermione's arms seem to have a life of their own, coming up and encircling Draco around the neck, keeping him close to her. Every thought leaves her mind and she now only sees sparks fly.

Draco couldn't be more pleased. This is how life should be, this is what should have been. He is finally home.

The Veela in himself finally calms down. Draco had to fight with it the whole day to keep it under his control. He is afraid of what it might do to Sophia if he lets it slip, even if only for a moment. Like it had done in the sitting room, when she had said that horrible thing. Draco had been glad his godfather entered the room just then. It is only because of that distraction that he had gotten a grip on the Veela in himself.

Hermione breaks herself free from the kiss, breathing in deeply, her eyes still closed and her arms still around his neck. Draco's lips trail down a path from her cheek to her neck, his free hand meanwhile encircling her lower back, pushing her closer to him. He can smell and feel her and that alone is heaven for him until he is able to mark her and bond with her.

She smells like vanilla with a touch of blueberries. The scent that has haunted him in his dreams for years now. He will do everything to keep her happy, because his happiness depends on hers.

While Draco places light kisses on her neck, Hermione seems to come back down to earth. _This isn't right,_ she thinks, panicked. However, she involuntarily gives a slight moan when he kisses a sensitive spot behind her earlobe. It feels so right.

"How do you do that?" she sighs, making Draco lean back a bit to smirk at her.

"It's a gift." Involuntarily she laughs a bit and Draco is already busy kissing her neck again.

"That's not what I meant," she says while pushing him back before encircling her arms around his neck again.

Happy that she isn't pushing him completely away, he lets his hand slide down from her hair to her back, making sure she still stays close. "What do you mean then?"

Her scent is lingering in the air and he can feel how his inner Veela is again pushing to get the upper hand. According to him, this isn't what they are supposed to do. Draco, of course, knows the clock is ticking, but easing Sophia and answering her questions is also a part of his priorities.

"How can you make me feel like that? I hated you and then suddenly it seems like I forget everything except you," she admits, her blue eyes shining with confusion.

"That's our connection as mates, love. The books and theory always dictate that it is the male Veela who will feel lost or will feel the connection. But that is not true. You need me as much as I need you. The only difference is that you can survive without me and I can't without you." His grey orbs beam with love and tenderness.

"And what do you feel when you are with me?" she leans in against him, resting her head on his chest and closing her eyes, trying to feel the connection.

A smile graces Draco's features and he stays silent for a few seconds. "It's like the sun shining inside of me when I just feel you near me. When I look at you I can't even begin to describe what I feel. Only knowing you are near me is enough to make me happy, even though the world around us is falling apart. You are like my sunlight, shining everywhere you go." He leans down into her hair and inhales. "Your scent is the only thing on earth that is able to relax me."

Surprised by that admission, she pushes back and looks at him, confusion written all over her face. "My scent?"

Draco laughs at her comic reaction. "Veela's senses are heightened. We can smell, hear and see better. And your scent is the loveliest of them all." Brushing with one hand through her hair and the other on her back to keep her close, he leans in again and whispers before her lips. "Vanilla with a touch of blueberry."

Then he kisses her again. She kisses him back, but reluctantly. Feeling that, he growls and pushes her back, so she hits the wall again, letting his pheromones take control for the second time that evening. She won't stand a chance against it. It is utterly Slytherin of him, but it is his only chance to get what he wants tonight.

**AN: **Again a great thanks to **Sarah Liz B**, for being beta of this story. She made a wonderful job again. =)

Let me know what you guys thought of it! You know reviews make me smile ^^.


	11. Chapter 10, Moonlight and Sunlight

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. The story and the characters belong solely to J.K, Rowling. I'm just playing with them and making no profit from this.

_**Chapter 10**_

His hands slide down to her waist to keep her close to him. Hermione has forgotten everything and can only concentration on how good everything feels. Draco deepens the kiss, causing Hermione to let out a moan. He kisses her with more passionate, more need. Sliding his hands under her sweater, He caresses the soft skin of her stomach and lower back.

Hermione breaks the kiss and opens her eyes. Her blue eyes are wide and look slightly panicked. Draco ignores it and bows his head down to kiss her again, idly wondering why she still is fighting him.

"What are you doing?" Her voice trembles a little as she pushes him back with one hand.

"Isn't it obvious?" She has finally annoyed him. The Veela in himself is pushing to get a move on it. There aren't many hours left until midnight. Then there will be only one more day before it will be the fifth of June, and his birthday. It will be better if they bond before that. The sooner they do it, the stronger the bond will be. And how less apparent the downsides of the bond will become.

_Should he use more of his pheromones on her?_ He is just considering this when she speaks again, calming him and his inner Veela.

"I'm afraid." No more than a whisper, but loud enough for him to hear. "I have no idea what's going to happen and you seem to know everything."

This almost breaks Draco's heart. She isn't fighting against the bonding anymore, she isn't fighting against _him _anymore. This alone fills him with joy.

Quietly and softly, he kisses her cheek, her neck and then the sensitive spot behind her ear. There he whispers, "I'll take care of you. Just like I always should have done." Then he kisses her on the lips, enjoying how soft and how compliantshe is now. What has made her change her mind he might never know, but he will always be very grateful for it. Of course, her head is full with pheromones and she can't think straight, but at the moment she seems rather sober and Draco really wants to believe that she's doing this out of her own free will.

Bending down, he slides an arm behind her knees and picks her up in the air, carrying her over to the bed without breaking the kiss.

Hermione is shocked and realization hits her again when her head is gently laid down on the green silken pillow. Draco won't have any of this and when he sees her scared blue eyes looking up at him, he overpowers her senses with another wave of pheromones. Seeing her bright blue eyes glaze over, he bends down and kisses her again. Slowly, he pulls her sweater over her head. Marveling again at how beautiful she really is, he bends down to kiss his way down her body, taking off her shoes, socks and then sliding her jeans off her legs. When she is down to her underwear he leans back and takes his own clothing off.

He kisses her again, tangling one hand in her hair and leaning most of his weight on the other.

Hermione feels so many different sensations. Her head is fuzzy and every touch the beautiful grey-eyed man gives her makes her want him even more. But there is something else, some voice in the back of her mind. It's screaming but it sounds so far away that it seems her own conscience is trying to tell her something. But then the man, her mate, bows down again and gives her a deep kiss, immediately silencing the voice. Awareness shocks her once more when she feels two fingers enter her. Opening her eyes, she looks right into Draco's silver shining ones. She is immediately mesmerized by them. They don't flash silver anymore, it seems instead like they have stayed that way.

It seems she is completely naked now. How he had he taken off all her clothes she doesn't know, nor does she know how he creates the mist in her head which is now gradually fading again.

"You're so beautiful," he whispers in her ear, meanwhile stroking her and making her gasp when he touches a sensitive spot.

Just when she thinks she can't take it anymore, he removes his fingers and leaned back a bit. Looking down at her with a smirk on his face, he brings his two fingers to his mouth and sucks them off, closing his eyes as if he is tasting something delicious. She gasps at this and looks at him, shocked. The mist in her head has fully lifted and only now does she begin to feel how aroused she is. And only now does she notice how her arms are thrown around his neck. Somehow she knows she isn't far from the so called 'bonding ritual'. Draco opens his eyes again and they are still shining silver instead of his usual grey. She mustn't forget to ask him someday what that means. He stares down at her and seems to study her eyes, noticing how they aren't glazed over anymore. Leaning on his arm, so he is even closer to her but not crushing her with his weight, he strokes some lost hairs from her face, saying, "I'm sorry for using my powers on you, knowing it would make you forget everything except me. But, of course-" Here a smirk appears on his face. It makes Hermione want to die because now she even finds his smirk sexy! "I am, after all, a Slytherin."

Draco bows down again to kiss her neck before moving up to her cheek. He pushes her legs wider with his knee, settling between them. She only realizes what he's doing when he kisses her on the mouth and she feels him slowly push inside of her. Coming at her little banner of virginity, he pauses a bit, deepening the kiss and distracting her before he pushes in with one thrust. Hermione gasps and breaks away from the kiss when a flash of pain shoots through her. She immediately feels his hands stroking her face, hears him whispering soothing sounds. He holds still from the moment she breaks away from the kiss. Somehow he knows she would be very sensitive.

"It will be ok, love. Shh, I know it hurts." He strokes away tears she doesn't even know she is shedding.

Draco watches her face closely and when she visibly calms down, he bends down and kisses her again, moving very slowly inside of her. When Hermione doesn't show any signs of distress he lets go of his caution.

She feels something build inside of her and it makes her distressed. This shouldn't be happening. Or at least, this shouldn't be happening with _him_. She can't shake the feeling of cheating off of her.

"Open your eyes, love. Look at me with those beautiful ocean blue eyes." His voice sounds strained and against her will her eyes open at his simple command. It reminds her again of who he is to her.

She gasps when she feels her orgasm building but he won't let her come yet, holding her just on the edge of it.

His eyes are now shining an even brighter silver. "Mine," he growls in an unnaturally deep voice. Hermione gasps again when she feels a chill run down her body as he says it. It is so unnatural to what she feels. It seems like her mind and body had two different wills.

He goes down and kisses the sensitive spot behind her ear. Hermione clutches Draco even tighter to her.

"Now come," he whispers in her ear.

And with that simple command she feels herself shatter. Breaking in a thousand pieces, in her in an orgasm so strong it feels as though a thunderbolt has gone straight through her She is only vaguely aware of Draco bowing down to her neck and biting her. The pain is only slight in contrast to her pleasure. And, as if she is somebody else, she is vaguely aware of bringing Draco's neck to her mouth and biting him in the same way.

Of course it is only later that she will find out that this is the bonding ritual between male Veela and his mate.

When awareness comes back to her, she feels Draco still laying on her, but somehow keeping his weight from crushing her. His hot breath brushes the sensitive skin of her neck, where his face is still laying.

Slowly she removes her arms from around his neck and places them besides her, staring at the ceiling above them. Her bright blue eyes are unreadable.

For Hermione it seems like an eternity before Draco sighs and pushes himself up again. Hanging his face right above hers, she has no choice but to look at him. He eyes have returned to their natural color of grey and somehow he looks a lot better than he had a few minutes ago. Hermione is shocked that she notices these little differences in Draco. But Draco's eyes are as unreadable as Hermione's so she has no idea what he is thinking. He's looking at her but seems to be concentrating on something else.

Stroking her hair away from her face, he gives a tender kiss on her forehead. He rolls off her but still lays close beside her, one arm around her waist and his other sunder his head.

"Are you alright?" he asks, concern very obvious in his voice.

Her eyes are still fixated on the ceiling. When he speaks they wander to him and then back to the ceiling. Her blue eyes looked glazed, like her thoughts are far away. "A bit overwhelmed," she confesses with a small voice, afraid. Both of them seem afraid to break the peace and quiet. "And a bit woozy."

Draco can't help but to smile again. After placing a kiss on her cheek, he explains, "That's very normal, love. It's the venom spreading in you. You should sleep. Tomorrow everything will be normal again."

"I doubt that," she says with a sour expression on her face. He ignores her and she closes her eyes, drifting off to sleep immediately.

XXXXX

Hermione blinks her eyes a few times, quite offended by the bright ray of sunlight shines on her face. Still drifting between sleep and wake, she is also quite confused. Her room in Grimmauld Place doesn't have a window with a view on the east, so the sun never peeks into the room in the morning. And with that confused thought she cracks one eye open only to immediately notice that she isn't in her room. She is definitely aware of her surroundings now and with that she also notices -much to her dismay- that the arm around her, pressing her against a man's chest, isn't Ron's arm. She's also not wearing any clothes. With that, Hermione is completely awake and very aware about what happened the previous night. Fighting down the urge to scream and push him away, she tries to place her other feelings. There is contentment coursing through her veins and she feels a strange surge of love for Draco. Somehow she feels safe in Draco's arms.

It is all so very conflicting and confusing and she doesn't want to dwell to long on the subject. By the time she has come to that point, Draco suddenly takes a deep breath and pulls her even closer to him, awakening himself.

"Good morning, love." His voice is still rough from sleep.

Hermione doesn't answer. She has no idea what she can answer to something so common and everyday, when she feels like nothing is normal at all. After a few more silent minutes, Draco suddenly pushes himself upright. "I hate to leave you but the Dark Lord summons me," he explains as he pushes himself away from her. Hermione turns away from the window when she feels Draco push himself away.

She watches him get up and put his clothes on. Everything is so strange and bizarre. Not only has she just found out that she is, in fact, a pureblood and who her family really is, but she is also his mate.

And there is nothing she can do about it, because everything has already happened.

Biting her lip, she pulls the blankets high and tries everything in her power not to look at him, which is very difficult because it is like his whole being has a pull on her. She finds it hard to fight against it, so she allows herself one moment to look.

At that moment he stands there, looking at her. When she casts her eyes up she looks in his eyes. It may be weird but at that moment everything feels right and she forgets all of her worries. She can't even remember that she is worried nor that there is something wrong.

But then he opens his mouth and starts to speak. And the world come crashing down on her.

"Of course, my love, I'm no idiot and I can't leave before making some arrangements." This gets Hermione's attention and she looks at him with suspicion in her eyes. "What kind of 'arrangements'?" She says the final word with the same tone he had said it in.

Draco laughs at that and crawls back into the bed next to her. "Some precautions."

Hermione goes to sit up straight when he lays his head next to hers, making sure the blanket is raised with her.

"We don't want anything to happen like yesterday? Do we?" Draco is still laying his head on a pillow, looking up at her sitting with her back against the bed board. Hermione can't help but shake her head 'no', although she really wants to get out of here. Doesn't she? She is beginning to start to doubt herself.

"Well then," he says, tugging on her arm so she slides down next to him.

Hermione realizes there sure are to be an awful lot of things she still doesn't know about the male Veela. She is very much afraid that Draco does and will use this to his advantage.

He is now hovering above her, his face close with hers but not touching. Hermione only has view of his grey eyes piercing into her bright blue ones.

"You will not leave the house, except with me or with Blaise. You will not try to make contact with any one of your Order friends. You can, of course, try to contact Pansy, Blaise or me without any problem." His eyes flash silver and Hermione gasps for breath. She feels with the flash of silver how his commands take effect on her. A smirk forms on Draco's features as he sees how surprised Hermione is.

"And, Sophia, you are, of cours,e free to use the books in the library to learn more about male Veela." That last one isn't really a command, but more a suggestion. After that he bows down and gives her one deep passionate kiss. "And even with how much I hate it, I have to go know." He gives her one more quick kiss and then pushes himself out of bed. "Be a good girl, Sophia," is the last thing he says before closing the door behind him.

**AN: **I'm so sorry for a bit of holdup. But I was distracted by real life as was my beta… Sometimes it's really annoying when real life takes a big deal out of your day, when all you want to do is write! =p

Again great thanks to **Sarah Liz B**, which helped making this chapter work and with who I had lots of fun making this chapter. =)

Leave a review!


	12. Chapter 11, A mark of silver

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything. The story and the characters belong solely to J.K, Rowling. I'm just playing with them and making no profit from this.

_**Chapter 11**_

Ron sits with his head in his hands. Guilt is coursing through his veins. Lavender is sitting next to him, looking rather content given the current situation.

Harry eyes Ron a bit but doesn't comment, thinking he is worried about Hermione and probably hasn't slept well. Though he'd kept Hermione at a distance after they had found out about her family, he now feels truly worried about her.

Ginny, on the other hand, is eying Ron with suspicion, noticing how gleeful Lavender was sitting next to him. "Any word yet from our spy?" she asks Harry, and so making Ron look up at her.

Seeing the look on his face, she is absolutely certain her suspicion is right. Instead of worry, his face is covered with guilt. It's visible mostly in his eyes but seeing as she's known him since she was born, Ginny can easily detect it.

Harry just starts to answer her when Ginny interrupts, "Or do you not care anymore, Ron?"

Harry chokes on his tea and mumbles something outraged that sounds like, "Ginny!"

On Ron's face, however, lays clear understanding.

"It's not what you think."

"And how can it be anything else?" She goes to stand, her hands leaning on the table as her anger overtakes her.

Hermione is her best friend, she won't let this happen to her. Especially now, when she is Merlin knows where.

"What's not anything else?" Harry asks, clearly confused and still breathless due to almost choking on his breakfast.

"Your best friend sleeping with his ex a few hours after his girlfriend is abducted by the enemy." Ginny indicates with her hand furiously from Ron to Lavender and then to the door, emphasizing the missing Hermione. Where, in the meantime, Snape has appeared, looking at the situation without show of any emotion.

Harry, who hasn't noticed him yet, gets up and screams, "You what!" Ron's ears are as red as his hair.

"Maybe this issue of infidelity can be postponed until another time," comes the drawl of Snape, who walks into the kitchen.

"Do you have news?" Ginny asks immediately, ignoring the red and guilty looking Ron, the shocked Harry and the bored looking Lavender.

"Yes," he drawls. Having heard the argument, Snape changes plans and decides to tell them everything. Knowing his godson, he just knows they had bonded yesterday evening. "But I'm afraid nothing can be done for her."

Ginny lets herself drop into her chair again. "What do you mean?"

Everyone, including Lavender, is now paying close attention to their former teacher.

"Exactly what I said," he drawls, enjoying the shock on their faces. Although Snape seems like a cold and distant man, he cares a lot for his godson and he his happiness. Seeing his godson suffer for all these years because of the missing Sophia - or Hermione, whichever she preferred - he knows she is going to be the one to make him happy. And he doesn't plan on helping the heroes get their friend back. Though Snape wants to defeat the Dark Lord, Draco's happiness has nothing to do with that.

"Miss Weasley, have you ever heard of male Veela?" It is such common knowledge around pureblood families that Snape is positive that even the Weasleys have heard of them. Shocked, Ginny throws a hand in front of her open mouth. "Oh no!"

Ron, who is sitting right in front of her, turns frantically to her. Harry's green eyes are wide and he even looks a bit pale due to Ginny's exclamation.

"What is it?" Lavender asks, also intrigued. Though she wants Ron back from Hermione, she doesn't wish any harm to the girl. She isn't evil.

Slowly lowering her hand, Ginny looks at Ron (he has never heard of them either, but then again he never listens to their mother) and Harry, and explains slowly all she knows about male Veela. How they need a mate but that it is chosen by magic. She tells them what she knows about the bonding. How the Veela has powers over his mate and how the mate has the power of life and death over him. When she is done Harry's face has gone ashen. It looks like he might pass out at any moment. Lavender's face has gone a lot paler than it normally is. Ron, on the other hand, keeps getting redder. He seems ready to jump up and throw something, but he keeps his place when Lavender places a hand on his arm. Ginny puts a hand on Harry's arm as well, worried by how sick he looks. Harry takes her hand in his own, soothed by the fact that his Ginny was sitting here right next to him.

"Very well, Miss Weasley." For a moment they all expect him to give Gryffindor a point but then they realize that they aren't at school anymore. And haven't been for a while.

"Don't tell us that Hermione…" Ron's sentence trails off, but they all knew what he means.

"Hermione or, as she is rightfully named, Sophia, is mated," Snape drawls.

Ginny again throws a hand over her mouth. Ron looks in shock at Snape and even Lavender looks affected by the idea. "Who?" she asks, her eyes wide in shock as she looks at Snape.

Snape waits for a heartbeat longer before he drops the bombshell.

"Draco Malfoy."

A deathly silence stretches in the kitchen of Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

XXXXX

In growing horror, Hermione frantically flicks her hair back, taking it in one hand and twisting it to her left side – and privately enjoying how smooth her blonde hair is. Leaning closer to the mirror, she looks with wide blue eyes at the little mark of silver embedded in her skin. Precisely the spot where Draco had bitten her yesterday. Slowly, she traces one finger over the mark. It is as smooth as her skin and seamless, too, without any appearance of scarring. Just a small silver line that is a part of her skin. Showing, to the people who knew, that she belongs to Draco.

Biting her lip, Hermione stares as though hypnotized at the little line on her neck. _When you just look at it, it is kind of beautiful_, she thinks. Sighing, standing straight and letting her hair fall loose, she looks into the reflection of her own blue eyes.

Draco had left almost two hours ago. She had at first lingered a bit longer in the bed, dreading to get up and face the world, before getting up to take a relaxing shower.

Closing her eyes, she takes a few deep breaths, trying to understand her conflicted feelings. A large part of her is still in love with Ron and needs to get back to him. But there is now also a large part of her that has feelings for Draco and though she knows it is wrong, she can't help but think how beautiful and sweet he is. Hermione curses the bond for that, almost positive that it is his doing. She also can't help but notice how her loneliness and nausea is gone. The things she has felt the last month, even when she was with Ron. It had passed the moment Draco had pulled her into his arms.

Opening her eyes again, she gathers her courage and leaves the bathroom, walking into the closet searching for some clothes to wear. Shock spreads through her again when she notices the amouns of clothes that are hanging for her. No Muggle clothes, of course, though they are the ones she prefers, but many Wizarding gowns and robes. Seeing as it is a rather warm day again, she pulls a light gown off the rack. The pale yellow won't be too attention-seeking and the cut is rather modest. It has simple, short sleeves with a V-neckline and a flowing skirt. Slipping on some low heels in the same color with red diamonds on the front, she hurries out of the dressing room. Sliding into the low chair before her vanity, she quickly takes a few hair pins and pins the front part of her hair back.

Hermione does this all rather quickly as she doesn't feel comfortable using these things. Draco had probably bought everything for her. When she thinks about it, it gives her chills.

Throwing the door open, she only takes one step into the hallway when Tinky appears in front of her. Just like yesterday.

"Miss is looking something?" Tinky asks Hermione, her big eyes shining up at her.

"The library?" Hermione asks, not really sure what she should do or what is expected of her. She tries to tell herself that it is not because Draco suggested it but because she loved reading, which she does, and she truly wants to find out more about the situation she has tumbled into, or as she liked to refer to it: her rabbit's hole that she has tumbled into.

The house-elf nods and starts walking down the white hall. Hermione closes the door and follows the quiet creature.

Tinky stops in front of the doors to the library and gives one final bow before disapparating with a soft pop.

XXXXX

An hour later, Hermione sits with her feet tucked next to her, her shoes on the carpet, with the same book Draco had given her yesterday in her lap. The sun shines brightly into the room, illuminating the magnificent library. She starts at the beginning of the book but fifteen minutes into reading about the history of Veela and the differences between male and female Veela, she decides to skip the section. This isn't the information she wants to know, and she has changed a lot since her Hogwarts years. Not to mention how dull that information was. She goes to the index, to search for a theme that will interest her. The chapter titled _Male Veela and their mates _had seemed interesting, but after half an hour reading it, she comes to the conclusion that it isn't, noting with irritation that the title is misleading. Having almost had enough of the big heavy tome, Hermione turns her head to the door, which has suddenly opened.

Pansy, dressed in a soft pink gown with her straight dirty blonde hair loose around her face, enters the library. Seeing Hermione sitting there, a tentative smile spread around her lips. When Hermione smiles in response, Pansy's brightens.

"Good morning, Sophia," she says, closing the door and walking to the sofas.

"Good morning, Pansy," Hermione says. Though she is a bit wary of her, her defensive posture has lessenedwith her since yesterday.

"How are you feeling?" she asks tentatively.

"Alright, I guess," Hermione answers honestly, flipping through the huge blue book.

Pansy goes to rummage through the bookshelf. After a few minutes, she seems content with a particular book and pulls it out. Walking back to the sofas she takes place on the one in front of Hermione's, who is still flipping through the huge volume. Suddenly she stops and looks up at Pansy. "Can I ask you something?"

Pansy looks up from her reading and gives a confirming nod.

"Were we friends? You know, as children?"

Pansy's eyes go wide with shock and she stares at Hermione.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked," mumbles Hermione, feeling very uncomfortable and casting her eyes to the book in her lap again.

"No, no. It's nothing Sophia," Pansy quickly assures her. "I was just surprised you asked. I thought you didn't care."

Hermione casts her eyes up again. "Of course I care. It's my past! Why did you think I didn't?"

"Just yesterday..." Pansy says.

"Yesterday I was abducted by Zabini and got to hear that I was Draco's mate! It's hardly fair to think I don't care," she replies, outraged.

Pansy laughs, making Hermione, surprising herself, laugh with her too. Pansy is an easy person to get along with and Hermione easily falls into a pattern with her that you only can have with a childhood friend.

"Sophia," Pansy says, after she stops laughing. "Don't you think you can say 'Blaise' now? After all, he sees you as a sister."

Hermione bites her lip and nods. "Perhaps you're right."

Pansy then closes her book and places it on the small table next to her sofa. "We were friends, Hermione." Hermione smiles at Pansy. Pansy using the name she prefers is something she doesn't expect and makes her trust Pansy a bit more. But Hermione also knows that Pansy will only used the name now. They all prefer Sophia because that is the girl they knew and loved.

"You were my best female friend." A gentle smile plays on Pansy's lips.

Hermione lets her eyes drop on the book in her lap and plays with the corner of a page. "Somehow I knew that."

"Now… Is there anything you want to know about being mate to a Veela?"

Hermione looks up, surprised at Pansy. In her eyes is the question if she knows anything about it. As Pansy knew her, she could easily see it. "Well, in that book you're not going to find anything except if you want to read the whole thing. And I assure you, it's rather dull. Or at least that's what Draco thought when he learned about his heritage. He explained afterwards everything to me and Blaise so we know everything, really." She is looking gently at Hermione, and Hermione just opens her mouth to ask something when she jumps up in fright of a soft pop next to her.

"Miss, lunch is served," Tinky says.

Pansy laughs again at Hermione's reaction, the huge book falling to the ground. She gets up and picks up the book from the floor, placing it onto another small table. "We will follow you, Tinky."

The house-elf bows in front of Pansy and shows them out of the library. Hermione quickly slips her shoes on and hurries after Pansy.

XXXX

**AN: **Again a great thanks to **Sarah Liz B**, who helped me made this chapter to what it is and helps me make this story even better! =)

Probably some people may have a problem with me letting Hermione and Pansy getting along so well, and even letting Hermione think Pansy is easy to get along with. But I have a theory for that =). I've never really thought that Pansy and Hermione really knew each other, nor even really noticed each other. The thing is they had gotten along when they where little.

So my guess is that even if you do grow up and even if you don't remember there's still something, some kind of bond hanging between you and the other one because of that close friendship in the past, and you can't make that go away. .. That's why I put it there..

I can understand lots of people will have trouble with this... but it was something my mind came up with while writing and it stayed in there for some reason.. =)

Leave a review if you like! ^^


	13. Chapter 12, Red tea

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. The characters solely belong to J.K. Rowling, not to me. I'm just playing with it.

_**Chapter 12**_

"So…" Pansy says, chewing on her carrot. "What do you want to know?"

Hermione pauses chewing on her tomato, thinking about what she should ask. A smile spreads over her face and after swallowing, says, "Everything he doesn't want to tell me."

Pansy laughs loudly at that. "I see you haven't lost your sneakiness, Hermione."

They are having a light salad in the same room they'd had dinner the evening before. Only this time only Pansy and Hermione are present.

"Well, let's see," Pansy says when her laughing ceases. "What would be the most beneficial things that you should know?" She pauses, looking at Hermione with a sudden wicked gleam in her brown eyes. "Are you going to tell him you know anything?"

"Hell no!" Hermione immediately answers without thinking, making Pansy laugh again. Hermione hadn't really paid much notice to her in school, but she is certain she has never seen the girl laugh this much. She also has that same feeling with Draco. When she really thinks about it, it unsettles her. Thinking about school, she suddenly remembers something. "Didn't you two date at school?"

Pansy stops laughing. "Yes," she says honestly. "But not for long, it felt weird. Like dating my brother. I still love him though." As an afterthought, she adds, "As a brother." A smile graces her face again and she cocks her head a bit to the side, looking questionably at the girl eating in front of her. "Didn't you keep up with the gossip?"

Hermione shakes her head and mumbles with her mouth full of food. "Only the Gryffindor gossip."

Pansy just nods, pushing her empty plate away. Hermione is still eating, but she has always been a slow eater.

"Now, about Draco. You noticed yesterday already that he has the power to make you come to him, but only if you are in the same room. I really have no idea how that works nor do I know what use it has," she says, holding her hands apologetically up.

"He has one power that you do need to be aware of. If you are really upset, angry, happy or in danger he will feel that." Hermione looks like she has been found out. She opens her mouth but Pansy stops her, already knowing what she is about to ask. "It helps if you are in trouble. He can even locate where you are if he is, for example, in the same house. So if he is near you, he can locate you. It is also a way to console him when he is away, so he will still feel you near him and knows you're okay." Hermione makes a noise in disgust and pushes her now empty plate aside. "Another important thing you need to know is that he can, and he probably will, _lay his will_ on you. That is the term they use in the book for that but it's more like a command you will feel the need to follow. For example..."

"That I cannot leave the house nor contact anyone," Hermione interrupts Pansy bitterly.

For a moment Pansy looks confused but then realization dawns on her. "I didn't think he would start to brag about his powers so soon."

Hermione bites her lip and stares with crossed arms at the table. Looking _very much like her nine–year-old pouting self_, Pansy thinks.

"Well, it does make a bit sense. I think he's just afraid you would try to escape. He didn't say you could go out at all did he?" she asks, ignoring Hermione's pouting. She is such a drama queen sometimes.

"Only with Draco and Blaise. And I can only contact them two or you."

An angry frown appears on Pansy's face. "You can't go in the garden with me? And it just is such a nice day! Oh Draco, how the hell will I be able to entertain Hermione?"

The answer is delivered by a small pop next to Hermione. A house-elf Hermione has never seen before bows. "Miss Sophia, Mistress Narcissa invites you for tea this afternoon in the patio."

Hermione stares in shock and looks, distressed, at Pansy for any aid.

"Sophia will be delighted. She will be there."

The elf nods and disappears with a small pop.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Hermione asks Pansy. Panic flickers in her bright blue eyes.

"Why not?" Pansy asks, pushing her chair back and standing up. "Hermione, you cannot say no to Aunt Cissa. She adores you and it's just tea. What can happen?"

Hermione sighs and follows Pansy out of the dining room. "Will you come too?"

"I will bring you there this afternoon but I will not join you."

When she felt Hermione's hand on her arm making her stop, Pansy looks at her. "Please, Pansy. What if she starts crying again? I really have no idea how to cope with that."

Pansy takes her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze, and they start walking again. "No worries. She probably just wants to talk. And I'm positive she will be in control of her emotions now. She is a very emotional woman, Hermione."

Hermione sighs deeply but doesn't say anything.

When they start to walk up the stairs again, she asks, "What are you going to do then when I'm having tea with Narcissa?"

"Looking for ways to get your memory back, as I have promised," Pansy answers with a comforting smile.

Hermione smiles at Pansy as they walk into the sitting room of the east wing.

XXXXX

Hermione stares at the teacup in her hands, loving the smell and the color of the red raspberry. It has been her favorite fruit for as long as she can remember. Taking a small sip of it she places the teacup back on the little table and looks up at her hostess. Narcissa smiles at her and also takes a sip of her tea.  
>"Even as a child you where always fond of raspberry. I see that has not changed?" A friendly smile is playing at her lips.<p>

"Not at all, madam," Hermione answers, politely. Though she is now relaxed around Draco, which she feels must be due to the bond, and Pansy, doesn't mean she feels comfortable around everyone in this house.

"Oh darling, I told you before. It is Aunt Cissa. You kids always called me that. It feels strange that you should be so distant." Narcissa leans back in her chair and her blue eyes shimmer with tears.

"I know, madam. But, you must understand my place. I don't remember a thing and to me you all are strangers. It would be weird if I would call you 'Aunt' if I don't even know you." Hermione lets her eyes drop to the ground when she answers Narcissa. She can't start to talk to the woman like she is an old, familiar person, even if she is that to Sophia.

"I understand completely, Sophia, but would it hurt you to try? In the meantime, while Pansy is searching for ways to get your memory back, you can get to know me. You used to be a daughter to me, so the distance seems to me inappropriate and, after all, you are my daughter-in-law and speaking to me like I'm a stranger isn't at all appropriate either."

Hermione's breath stops for a second as she hears Narcissa's words. What is she going on about? She will never want to marry Draco. She is not the Sophia everyone here expects her to be. But for some reason, unknown to her, she lets it pass without any comment.  
>Hermione looks up at the woman and smiles at her. Narcissa is definitely a woman to be reckoned with. "Yes, I see your point, Aunt Cissa." The words feel strangely familiar to Hermione as she slowly speaks them.<p>

A bright smile shimmers on Narcissa's face now. She reaches to the table and takes the platter with little cakes, handing them out to Hermione. "You can have the last one, with apple. You used to be very fond of that."

Hermione smiles back at Narcissa and takes the last slice of apple cake. "I don't think I'm just fond of it. It's more an addiction."

Narcissa laughs out loud. "Yes, indeed. How you used to fight with Lucius over the apple cake the houselves baked. Both of you were very fond of it. Somehow you always got the upper hand when it involved that cake." Her eyes glaze over as she reminisces about Sophia's long forgotten memories.

After taking a bite and chewing on it, Hermione asks, wonderous, "So a little girl won from a grown up man?"

Narcissa laughs again. "Yes, you could say that. But I think he let you win. After all, how could say no to such a lovely girl?"

Hermione sighs. "It's amazing how many things have happened and I can't even remember a single thing." She takes a lock of her blond hair, still surprised by how soft her new hair feels, and twists it around her fingers.

"Do you have any idea why I can't remember anything?" she asls after a few minutes of silence.

Narcissa is just bringing her teacup to her lips when she pauses, midway. Her light blue eyes fixate on the girl she has always seen as her daughter. "No one is sure about what happened the night Alexander and Catherina Naberrie were killed. The authorities claimed there wasn't any evidence left to even start an investigation, but the Malfoy household, just as the Zabini household, always believed they didn't even try. And then it was found out they were loyal Death Eaters, so people didn't care anymore and why should they? Everyone thought 'good riddance'." Narcissa has put her cup back on the table, without drinking from it, and is now wearing a bitter expression. "Catherina was my best friend. I had known her since we were children. I still can't understand how nobody seemed to care." Gripped by the grief she has, so it seems, never learned to accept, Narcissa holds a hand in front of her eyes, pushing back tears that she feels welling up in her eyes. When she has composed herself she looks up again, straight into Hermione's eyes. "You look so much like her, Sophia."

Hermione is still playing with her hair but seems more concentrated on Narcissa's story. Though she doesn't want to admit it, even to herself, she is curious about her past. "Ginny had found an article about the Naberrie family. It said that my parents didn't want me. And that I almost never slept in the Naberrie Manor."

Narcissa looks quite insulted by that. But before she can say anything, Hermione pushes on. "I find it quite strange that on that specific evening I was…" she pauses on the word, "home." It is still difficult for her to think in terms of that. "You see if I hadn't been…" Again, a pause, and her fingers stop twirling around the golden lock of hair. "If I hadn't been there, then… I just wonder how different my life would have been."

Narcissa's expression is a mixture of sadness and disapproval. Before she can answer there is the sound of a deep voice behind her. "Then you would have been a Slytherin." Lucius Malfoy comes into view, walking around Hermione's couch to sit next to his wife. Hermione lets go of her hair and sits up a bit straighter. Scrunching her nose in disgust, she answers honestly. "Probably." There is, of course, no denying that.

After giving Narcissa a kiss on the cheek, he looks at Hermione again. Eyes as grey as Draco's pin her to her seat as he ignores her disgusted look. "We have asked ourselves that same question over and over again for the past eleven years. And if it is one thing we've learned, it is that if we keep asking ourselves 'what if', we will forget to live in the present." And now a smile, that very much resembles the smile Draco gave her, spreads over Lucius face. "So live in the present. And be happy that everything, ultimately, turned out as it should."

Crossing her arms and ignoring his last sentences, because she somehow just knows she would lose the arguement, she turns her eyes again to Narcissa, who is speaking now. "And about that foul gossip your friend found in the papers. Don't believe a word, Sophia. Your parents loved you deeply. It is true you were spending a lot of time here, but that was only to make the bond between you and Draco stronger. And also because I insisted." Hermione has to smile at that. She has always thought that Narcissa was a woman to be reckoned with. "Even on that horrible fateful night, you were at first going to stay here. Then you had that stupid quarrel with Draco and you immediately Floo'd home." A sad expression fills Narcissa's eyes and Lucius places a consoling arm around her shoulders.

Hermione blinks at the revelation. "We had a quarrel?" Somehow she had assumed she and Draco had never argued, given the way she had heard them talk about their past. Lucius smiles at that. "It was not your first one."

"But it was your last," adds a still sad-looking Narcissa.

"About what?" askes an intrigued Hermione, looking from Narcissa, back to Lucius and back to Narcissa again when she speaks. "I think it was about a book," Narcissa says with a questioning look at Lucius, who nods. "And to make it even worse, it was about a Muggle book," said Lucius, a look of disgust on his face. "How you even got that, I have no idea."

Narcissa's eyes have a strange shimmer in them, as if she knows who was responsible for giving her that book. _Maybe she gave it to me_, Hermione thinks.

"But it was her favorite. Carrying it around everywhere she went," Narcissa says, smiling, making her husband smile also, forgetting about his disapproval. "But I have forgotten what it was…" Narcissa stares in the distance, trying to remember the name of the book. "Oh! Of course." A triumphant smile brightens her face. "It was called _'Alice in Wonderland'._ How could I forget?"

Hermione's heart stops beating. _Alice in Wonderland_: it is her favorite book. Somehow this proves even more that they aren't lying. But sadly enough the argument doesn't ring a bell with Hermione.

"I remember how Draco held himself responsible for your death for so long. It almost ruined him." The joy has immediately disappeared from Narcissa's face.

"Because of an arguement?" Hermione asks, shocked. It also shocks her that Draco seemed to care so much for her. She doesn't dwell on the fact why it still wonders her. Hadn't he already proven himself?

"Well, I think it was more than an argument," Narcissa starts but Lucius jumps in. "It was always more than an arguement."

"Yes, well, anyway. It was a beautiful day in June and you two were playing outside. I always made you two play outside when the weather allowed it. Draco was flying on his new broom, a birthday present from us which he had received for his ninth birthday a few weeks before. You were reading your book again. Draco wanted you to fly with him, though I had forbidden it because he didn't fly well and it wasn't safe. You were always a wise girl and when he asked you, you said 'no'. When he asked why, you told him you didn't trust him. And he later told me, because we weren't present at the time, that you had wounded his ego by telling him that you didn't trust him. So, dealing the way a nine year old boy deals with things, he started teasing you. You got angry and when you told him you wanted to read, he told you that you never had any fun. You were always reading that same old dull book. He took the book from you and flew high up and away from you. You were jumping up and down and following him, in the meantime shouting that he should give your book back. When you threatened to tell me, he got angry and dropped your book, but didn't see he was flying above the lake. The book fell into the water and so it was ruined." Narcissa ends the story.

Silence lasts for a few minutes till Lucius speaks. "I didn't even leave my desk when I heard you two screaming at each other. The sound was streaming in through the open window. When I heard Draco shout your name three times, I just knew you had gone inside and would probably floo home. I didn't worry about that, it wasn't the first time you went home after a quarrel. You two had had some serious fights, but you would always come back the next day."

"That's how strong your bond was," Narcissa says, smiling.

"I have often thought, what if I had stopped you and you had stayed with us that evening." For the first time, Hermione sees a sad glint in Lucius' eyes.

"But all is well now," Narcissa tries to break the sadness that now hangs in the air. Hermione leans back in the chair and recommences twisting hair around her fingers. She wishes she could remember, but the story doesn't even sound recognizable.

"Do you want some more tea, Sophia?"

Hermione shakes her head no and casts her eyes on the window behind Narcissa. The day is as beautiful as it was yesterday. No cloud can be seen again for miles. She suddenly wishes she could go outside. But she can't, or at least not without Draco or Blaise. Draco had forbidden her.

And she knows he is right to not trust her yet. Though Hermione seems very docile and accepting from the outside, she is actually quietly making plans. Hermione has always been a rather quiet and introverted person. And she has to admit it scares her to notice how well Draco knows her. But there is nothing that can be done about it now.

Hermione winces as her finger gets stuck in a painful knot of her hair.

**AN: **Again a great thanks to my lovely Beta Sarah Liz B, who helped me get all the fault out of the chapter.

I hope you liked it! ^^


	14. Chapter 13, Standing her ground

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. The characters solely belong to J.K. Rowling, not to me. I'm just playing with it.

_**Chapter 13**_

"How does anyone find their way in here?" Hermione mutters, walking through a corridor, trying to find her way to Pansy. It had seemed so easy when Pansy had walked her to the patio this afternoon. Now she is certain she is hopelessly lost.

"For the past five minutes I've been trying to find out where you are going," a very familiar voice says behind her, "but it appears you're only walking in circles, my love."

Relieved, though she doesn't exactly know why, she turns around. Draco is smiling at her as he comes closer.

"Only, guided by your feelings, it appears that you are lost?" he asks while taking her in his arms. "Lucky I found you then," he continues. Hermione has been rendered speechless and it isn't something that happens to her easily.

He bends down and kisses her, Hermione not fighting him. As he deepened the kiss, something stirs within her. Why isn't she fighting against any of this? Why does she so easily go along with this all day, while deep inside she wants to scream?

He releases her but keeps a hand loosely in his, smiles at her and asks, "How was your day, Sophia?"

Somehow in Hermione snaps and as she realizes something is wrong she shakes her hand out of his. "What have you done to me?" she demands.

"I don't know where you are going with this, Sophia." A smirk appears on his face.

"Stop that! Stop calling me Sophia. I'm not your precious Sophia! Maybe I used to be, but I can't remember her. She is gone, Malfoy!" Hermione shouts, feeling stunned afterwards. There is her anger, the one thing she's been missing, and she hadn't even known till now. With wonder in her bright blue eyes, she looks up at Draco, who is still smirking at her.

"What did you do to me?" she asks again, narrowing her eyes.

His smirk widens for a second and at first she doesn't think he will answer her, but before she can make any threats, he speaks.

"As you probably already found out, I am able to feel your emotions when they are heightened." He waits until she nods before continuing. "But not only can I feel them, I can also heighten an emotion, like I did today with your feelings due to our mating, or diminish an emotion, like I did today with your anger."

"You did what!" Hermione yells. She can't believe he has tampered with her emotions without her knowing it. That's what has been off the whole day.

"Sweetie, calm down. I have a reason." Draco looked slightly panicked at her outburst. Hermione wonders why. Had he forgotten who he is dealing with?

"Well then, share with me your amazing reason. Because that's what it has to be for me to ever even consider forgiving you for that," she said smiling unkindly and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"I did it because I could feel how angry you were but also how conflicted you were. I wanted you to show you how you feel about me, and that these feelings are there. If your angry wasn't diminished, you would only be focusing on that because I'm the 'bad guy' or 'ferret boy'." Hermione can't help but smile as he makes quotations marks in the air and doesn't even realize that he's stepping closer to her. "You see, sweetie, I know you. Even though you think I don't. And because of that I want to make a peace offering to you: I will call you Hermione. Even though your real name is Sophia, I don't really mind it. But I can't speak for my parents, as you as well as I know that they're really old school," Draco winks at this, making Hermione laugh.

"Will you forgive me, Hermione?" Draco pouts in an adorable way, as he takes her hands in his.

"Merlin, I should be so angry with you but somehow you seem to take all my anger away," Hermione wonders aloud.

"I didn't do it. You did it yourself this time," Draco defends himself.

"What is happening to me?" Hermione wonders again, staring past Draco. She hasn't asked him the question, he knows that, but nevertheless he answers.

"It's because you are my mate and you can't stay mad at me. Nor can I be mad at you, or live without you."

"You're making an illogical comparison," she says, guiding her eyes back to him.

"I know," Draco smiles, "but I made my point didn't I?"

Hermione just nods and casts her eyes downright.

"Now," Draco whispers, lifting her chin up so he can look into her eyes, "would you like to have dinner with me?"

His grey eyes bore into her bright blue ones, which were for a moment unreadable. But she makes up her mind and nods. Draco smiles and leans in for another lingering kiss before he pulls her with him to the garden, where he arranged for them to eat. He knows Hermione has been indoors too long for her liking.

XXX

"No, Draco. I will not accept this!"

Blaise looks surprised at Pansy's angry tone. He opens the door fully and enters, in the middle of an argument. Pansy and Draco are standing in front of each other, the former's finger pointing accusingly at the latter. Hermione is sitting on the sofa behind Draco, her legs tucked beside her and an amused smile on her lips. All three of them look up surprised at Blaise's entrance.

"What's going on?" he asks, making his way to the sofas after closing the door behind him.

"Draco forbid Hermione from going outside. Even just in the garden," Pansy explains to Blaise, her eyes still accusingly fixated on Draco.

"Yes, I am aware of that. But that's the best for now, don't you think?" Blaise says casually, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before making his way to the liquor cabinet.

"But that's not the point, Blaise!" Pansy says with a sigh, turning her head away from Draco to look at her boyfriend, who is pouring himself a drink.

"Then what is?" he asks, placing a bottle of Firewhisky back in the cabinet.

"I want Hermione to be able to go into the garden with me." She turns back to Draco and continues in an angry tone. "Or how else am I to keep her busy while you are away? Seriously, Draco, I think she should be allowed to just go in the garden by herself. It's not like she can leave it if you forbid her. What are you afraid she is going to do? Try to kill you with the thorns of roses or alarm the Order by setting a huge fire so they can see the smoke?"

Hermione laughs at this, making everyone look at her in surprise. "Oh, what?" she says, a little embarrassed. "If I were to try to kill you, I could find better objects in this house, believe me."

Draco at first looks shocked and then furious at Pansy, who is smiling at Hermione. "Don't give her any ideas, Pansy." It is nothing more than a low hiss but it is utterly terrifying, making Hermione stop laughing at once and stare at his back with an expression Blaise can't really place.

"Draco, they're just fooling around." Blaise eases the tension immediately with those words. He makes his way to the sofas and sits in the one in front of Hermione. Pansy and Draco are still standing in the middle facing each other.

"And I think Pansy is right," Blaise says, taking a sip of his Firewhisky.

Hermione sighs, thinking the whole argument will start all over again but instead Draco just nods. "Too much?" he asks Blaise.

Blaise shrugs. "Don't blame you."

Hermione suddenly sees Draco and Blaise's relationship in a different light. They aren't just good friends like she'd always thought but brothers, thus giving Blaise privileges no one else can have.

Just as suddenly, Hermione also wonders what rank Draco is as a Death Eater. She hadn't seen him the whole day and she knows from Pansy that Blaise has been with him this afternoon. Also, how did he manage to get Voldemort to look for her, making her more urgent than looking for Harry?

She is disturbed from her thoughts when Draco turns around to her. He bends close to her, his face only inches from hers, just like earlier that morning. And just like that morning, she is mesmerized by his grey orbs. "You are able to go into the garden of this house but cannot go further, unless with me or Blaise."

His grey eyes flash silver again and Hermione feels how the new commands take effect on her.

Draco turns away from her and look at Pansy, who is still standing on the same spot. "Happy now?"

She just grins. "Very happy." Draco tries to hide his grin as he makes his way to the liquor cabinet.

Pansy takes a seat next to Blaise, who takes her hand in his and another swig of his glass.

"Now, on a happier note, what are you going to do tomorrow?" She asks Draco brightly, her eyes following him as he goes to sit next to Hermione and casually places an arm around her shoulders. Making her lean into him.

"What about tomorrow?" he asks, taking a sip while his hand plays with Hermione's hair.

"Draco!" Pansy says. "It's your birthday, you should do something. Or else I will."

"Pansy… I think Draco would rather spend the day with Hermione than throw a party," Blaise says, placing his empty glass on the table beside him.

"Besides, what is it with you today that's making you so pushy?" Draco asks, wondering.

"That's Hermione's good influences," Pansy beams.

"Don't get me into this, Pansy," Hermione warns.

"Why not? It is, after all, because of you that I feel so happy."

"Leave out the plotting and organizing then," Hermione comments back. This grabs Draco's attention. He looks, shocked, at Hermione. "What plotting?"

"No need to get so concerned, I'm not plotting anything for the moment, unfortunately." He looks relieved at this and places a kiss on her cheek and then her shoulder. "Good." He whispers so only she can hear.

"But Pansy is," she then says.

"Oh Hermione, don't spoil the surprise, would you," Pansy sighs.

"What surprise?" Draco asks, intrigued.

"Don't you dare use your powers to make her tell you, Draco Malfoy," Pansy threatens.

"Is that a threat or a challenge?" Draco asks, meanwhile kissing every inch of Hermione's skin in his sight.

Pansy doesn't answer but she keeps a close eye on Draco.

"Why does he still succeed in baiting you, even after all these years?" Blaise asks, bringing Pansy closer to him.

"Because I'm good at it," Draco laughs, pulling his head away from Hermione.

"Oh, you're such a prat sometimes," Pansy says half-heartedly.

Draco goes to stand. "Well, it's getting late. I'll see you two tomorrow," he says and while waiting on Hermione, who is slipping her shoes on, he adds, "Blaise, will you two stay here? We need to leave early in the morning."

"But-" Pansy starts to protest.

"Don't worry, Pans, we'll be back in the afternoon." He takes Hermione's hand and walks with her out of the sitting room.

XXX

Hermione leans back against the kitchen counter, watching Pansy wave her wand around the kitchen, making pans, spoons and other utensils fly about as they prepared food. Pansy has sent the house-elves away from the kitchen, wanting to prepare the food herself. They had left eventually, although grudgingly.

After sitting around in her room for a few hours, worrying about Harry, Ginny and Ron and trying to figure out how she can get them to know she is here so that she can escape (though she doubts that she will succeed), she gives up and decides to find something to take her mind off it. For a moment she forgets about everything she worries about, as she remembers that she has always found that the best remedy is to find someone else. After walking around the house and opening doors, with a bit of luck she finds Pansy busy in the kitchen.

It is still early but Pansy is already preparing food for that night. The big surprise is that Pansy has invited Draco's friends over for his birthday party. Although he had said that he doesn't want anything, Pansy knows that he will be happy with the surprise.

"Are you even considering helping me, or not at all?" Pansy turns around to look at Hermione, her brown eyes piercing Hermione's blue ones.

Hermione smirks, noticing the playfulness of Pansy's tone. "It's very interesting to see how will you work so hard and fail."

Pansy looks shocked and playfully hurt for a moment, before she throws a towel her way. "You would be better to help me instead of watching me struggle. I've never been able to cook." She turns around again to the stove where she notices that the green vegetables she was baking are now black. "You see!" she cries, throwing her hands up in the air instead of lifting the pan off the stove.

Hermione laughs and pushes herself off the kitchen counter. She makes her way to Pansy, shuts the stove off and takes the burned vegetables off. "What I don't understand is why you insist on cooking yourself-" Hermione turns around and sees a floating pan coming her way. She quickly ducks out of the way and then, eying the pan bouncing into the wall behind her, continues, "-when you obviously can't cook."

"But, Hermione! Otherwise it isn't something personal. And I want it to be something special. Especially since he turns 21 and we found you again." Pansy is pacing the kitchen, easily ducking the floating obstacles. If she is conscious or not of doing that, Hermione doesn't know. Nor does she understand how the objects have doubled in the meantime and are suddenly starting to target them.

"But why-" Hermione ducks again from a floating spoon. "-go through all that trouble for a party he doesn't even want?"

Pansy turns to Hermione again. "He does want it, he is just saying that because he doesn't want it to seem that he does. If you still had your memories you would know that."

Hermione twists a lock of hair in her fingers. "That does sound complicated. Why can't he just say he wants you to throw a party?"

Pansy laughs at this and takes a step backwards so a saucepan can pass without hitting her. "It _is_ Draco we're talking about, Hermione."

Hermione doesn't have time to reflect on this. The pan, which had tried to hit her a few moments ago, ceases hitting the wall and hits the back of her head with full force. "Ow," Hermione murmurs before she drops to the ground, not losing consciousness but seeing the room spin.

"Hermione! Oh Merlin, are you alright?" Pansy sounds concerned to Hermione but she can't see properly so she closes her eyes. When the woozing in her ears ceases she crackes one eye open. Relieved to see the world steady again, she cracked the other one open. Pansy has bent down on her knees and is looking worriedly at Hermione, sitting on the ground. "Fine," Hermione grunts out as a late response to Pansy's question. Her hand tentatively pats the back of her head where there definitely will be a bump growing. She winces slightly.

"Oh, Draco is surely going to kill me!" Pansy says worriedly, standing up again and stretching an arm out to Hermione.

"He will not if you stop these things from flying around right now," Hermione grunts, standing slightly unsteadily on her legs.

"But they are cooking," Pansy says defensively.

Hermione stops rubbing her head and looks at Pansy with a look that says, 'Seriously?' Pansy understands immediately and pulls out her wand. "Fine." She mutters a spell and the pans and other cutlery immediately stop flying about. "But will you help me cook?" Pansy puts her nicest smile on and looked pleadingly at Hermione, who sighs but nods. It is not like she has anything else to do. And she is still working on a plan to try to escape here.

"What were you going to prepare?" Hermione asks, making her way to the sink to wash her hands.

"I don't know. Aren't some vegetables, potatoes and meat enough?" Pansy asks while picking up some cutlery from the floor.

"Which ones?" Hermione asks, closing the tap and picking up a towel.

"I don't know." Pansy drops her load on the table in the middle of the kitchen.

"Oh boy," Hermione sighs, dropping the towel.

**AN: **… I wanted to put something rather light in at the end, … I hope you liked it! =)

Again a great thanks to my lovely beta **Sarah Liz B**, who always points out to me the things I overlook.


	15. Chapter 14, Apple crumble

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. The story and the characters belong solely to J.K, Rowling. I'm just playing with them and making no profit from this.

_**Chapter 14**_

It was already the afternoon when Draco and Blaise arrive at Malfoy Manor. Draco is on edge and makes his way to the kitchen, where he can immediately feel she is. He had felt the pain shoot through her a few hours earlier.

Opening the kitchen door, he halts in surprise. Delicious smells are coming his way from inside the kitchen. Blaise stops behind him, too.

"Whoa! That smells good." He pushes Draco further into the kitchen. Pansy looks up from the plate she has just taken out of the oven. "Well it's about time you two got home," she greets them.

Hermione, who is peeling an apple, looks up to and a tentative smile spreads over her lips before she looks down again. If Draco hadn't been watching her he might have missed it.

"Pansy, since when do you cook? Or more, since when do you make edible food?" Blaise says, making his way to a plate on the kitchen table.

"Since Hermione is back." She hits his fingers. "No tasting! It's for tonight."

While they argue on, Draco makes his way to Hermione, who is chopping the apple in pieces for the dessert. Giving a sweet kiss on her temple, he greets her. "What are you making?" He nonchalantly wraps an arm around her waist.

"Apple crumble," she answers, putting a piece of apple in her mouth. Draco smiles at her actions. Almost everything made with apple would be a favorite of hers.

"Sounds delicious." He leans in behind her and kisses her neck.

"Stop it," she whispers to him, making sure Pansy and Blaise don't hear. They are still arguing playfully on the background.

"Why?" he says, stealing a piece of apple.

She turns her head around and smiles at him. "You make me lose my concentration."

Draco laughs and gives her one more kiss before he pushes himself away. Leaning against the kitchen counter next to her, he watches her put the apple pieces into a dish. He never imagined she would be a good cook but he did like the surprise of that.

Stealing another piece of apple he asks, "What happened this morning?" He tries to ask nonchalantly, but the question has been worrying him since he felt the pain shoot through her. He may have almost left his post if Blaise hadn't stopped him, saying Pansy was with her and Hermione would probably be fine.

"Can you pass me the cinnamon?" she asks, not answering the question. Draco looks behind him and finds the cinnamon, passing it to her while he keeps a hold of her hand. He refuses to let go of her until she looks up.

"I felt the pain shoot through you. What happened?" he asks, sincere when her bright blue eyes cast a look at his grey ones.

"A pan hit me in the head," she answers and he lets go of her arm.

He watches her sprinkle the cinnamon over the apples, waiting for more to come. Hermione looks up when he stays silent and notice his grey eyes pierce hers, waiting for more of an explanation.

"Pansy was trying to cook and she had enchanted the whole kitchen. Stuff was flying around everywhere. And the pan bumped my head. It's nothing to worry about," she explains while spreading the crumble evenly over the apples.

When Draco tries to say something, Hermione looks at him. "Nothing to worry about," she repeats, finishing the story.

Draco looks a bit surprised while he watches her turn away and put the dish in the oven.

Doesn't she understand yet that she means everything to him? That he's just being concerned? He's lost her once, he can't handle losing her twice.

XXXXX

Her heart is pounding in her ears as she walks further down the stairs, step by step. It is as if with each step she takes, her heart pounds in her ears. Her breathing is loud and harsh.

She had just never realized, while preparing the food and listening to Pansy planning the party, that she has to be there to. When Pansy had asked her what she was going to wear, she had been shocked into silence. Blaise had been staring at her with such an expression, she was bound to feel guilty thinking she didn't have to show up. Even Draco had looked hurt. So Hermione had stammered, trying to save herself at the last moment, that she didn't know yet. Pansy had ignored the whole thing and just taken her upstairs, helping her pick out her outfit. After Pansy left, Hermione had sat at her vanity, staring at herself for what felt like hours. Trying to place her feelings, trying to figure out why she even wanted to please Draco so much. Again, she cursed the bonding for it. She cursed the bonding for everything she had done the last two days. Talking, cooking, laughing, even enjoying being in Draco's arms when she should have been busy trying to find a way out of here. But for now, she only came up with nothing. It even scared her to think that a part of her doesn't even want to escape this place.

Coming to the final step, she takes a deep breath and then steps on the ground floor. No one is here, so no one can so her breathing deeply, in and out, trying to calm herself while holding herself steady at the staircase.

Laughter and music is waving to her from the open door to her left. The ballroom will probably be packed by now, judging from the loud noise. After all, she is already pretty late. It had taken a long time before she had dared to dress and even longer before she had found the nerve to open the door and go downstairs.

Gathering her courage and taking another deep breath, she makes her way to the open doors of the ballroom.

Hermione is wearing a beautiful blue dress, a shade darker then her eyes. It has a corset-like bodice and a flowing skirt. Pansy has helped her pin her blonde hair up with silver pins. It shows the silver mark on her neck. On her wrists dangle silver bracelets, matching the silver in her neck and hair.

Coming at the open doors she stalls, looking shocked at the huge room filled with people. Some are dancing in the middle of the ballroom, some are standing in little groups talking at the side line and others are at the banquet table on the other side of the room, enjoying the food she had prepared earlier that day. Everything seems so normal and so peaceful. She almost forgets there is a war raging on. Looking around at the amount of people, she had just never expected it to be such a huge crowd, and she doesn't notice Draco joining her side with two drinks in his hands.

"I was starting to wonder if you ever would show up," he whispers in her ear, startling her. "But I'm very glad you did," he adds, handing her over a drink.

"Of course you are. People might otherwise think you abducted me and are holding me here against my will," she says while glancing over the room again. She tries to find a familiar face, even though she knows it is useless.

While Draco, Blaise and Pansy have started referring to her as Hermione, there are still only a few people who know that she is Hermione Granger. Pansy had told her, while she was chatting away trying to find a dress for Hermione, that most people had only heard that she was the missing Naberrie daughter, finally returned from a safe place. Only the highly placed people knew she was actually an Order member, but even then, they didn't know who. So tonight she has to be Sophia Naberrie. Normally she would have fought against it, but somehow she doesn't tonight. It is Draco's birthday and she doesn't have a gift for him. Let this be his gift. That's what she had decided when she couldn't find an suitable explanation for herself.

"Love…" Draco starts with a sigh but before he could say anything more, Hermione turns and casts her bright blue eyes upon him. "Don't worry, I will behave tonight. It is your birthday after all so see it as a birthday present from me." She takes a sip of her drink. Draco takes one step closer to her, so that they are standing so close, they are almost touching. Absentmindedly, he rubs his thumb over the silver line on her neck. It spreads a tingling sensation throughout Hermione's body.

"You know I don't need anything from you."

His attention is torn away from Hermione when a tall, dark man appears. Hermione gladly turns her eyes away from Draco, when he finally releases the hold his grey eyes have on her, only to look up in a face she recognizes. Theodore Nott has always been a handsome guy, but in the years she hasn't seen him, he has become even more handsome. The roundness of his childhood has disappeared and left him with a face you might see in magazines. Somehow she knows it is the true face of a businessman and, of course, of a high society person, but all that is softened by the warm glow from his melting chocolate brown eyes.

"At last I get a look at your Sophia," he says, laughing with a drink in his hand. Hermione doesn't miss the part where he deliberately calls her 'your' Sophia. She can't help the warm glow that spreads through her because of it. Damn that Veela bond, she curses again. Draco answers Theo, but his words completely pass Hermione. Now he turns his melting brown eyes towards her bright blue ones. "I don't think anyone at the party looks as pretty as you do tonight, Sophia," he says, his eyes sincere.

"She is stealing away Draco's thunder," sounds a booming laugh behind her. Blaise has joined their little crowd with Pansy flanking his side. Pansy's smile to Hermione is so sincere that Hermione can't help but to smile back, not being able but to help feeling that Theo has done injustice with his phrase. Pansy has really outdone herself. Her muddy brown hair is lifted high in a sort of bun. Layer after layer of hair twists over each other, making it look spectacular and also rather complicated. The golden look of her gown brings out the warm brown in her eyes and matches her earrings.

When the men were talking, Pansy leans into her and Hermione quickly whispers, "How did you do you hair like that?"

Pansy looks quite shocked and tentatively touches her hair. "Magic," she whispered back.

"Of course. You have to teach me that spell some day. It's absolutely amazing." Somehow relieved, Pansy smiles back at her. "Really? Because I wasn't too sure about it." Hermione just nods back, her attention being brought back to the conversation because her name, or at least Sophia, has been said. Somehow in the time she is whispering to Pansy, she has become the center of attention. Or at least, Sophia Naberrie has. Hermione still doesn't feel like she is that girl, even though she now truly believes she was born as Sophia Naberrie. But she isn't that girl anymore. It will take a long time before Hermione will get used to her old self. If she ever does.  
>Taking a deep –silent- breath and mentally bracing herself, she puts a smile on her face and turns to the people talking to her. After all, this is Draco's birthday present. She is very aware of his protective hand around her back. She is also very aware it will stay there the whole night long. And even after that.<p>

**AN: **Thanks to my beta **Sarah Liz B**, who I love for the work she is putting in this story to make it work. =)

I hope you guys liked it!


	16. Chapter 15, Wrapped in emerald green

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. The story and the characters belong solely to J.K, Rowling. I'm just playing with them and making no profit from this.

_**Chapter 15**_

The night sky shimmers with silver stars, shining brighter than ever in the unclouded darkness. It is so late at night, or early depending on how one looks at it, that a lighter blue can already be seen, brightening the horizon. Daylight will not be too far away.

It is at this view that Hermione is staring at, enjoying the simple beauty of the sky. She simply stands there, removing the pins in her hair absentmindedly, completely unaware of Pansy lingering in the doorway.

The party had lasted till the early hours of the night and all of the party guests have just left. Pansy, being a good organizer, had waved them all out and wished them a save journey. Now she is waiting to tell Hermione the important news she had found out in the idle hours before the party had started. While she had been waiting for the first guest to arrive –Blaise had been taken a last minute shower- she had picked up her research and had her first breakthrough.

XXXXX

Pansy can hear the shower running through the open door of the bathroom. Draco always prefers to take his shower before he goes to bed. It relaxes him completely and helps him sleep better - or at least, let's him sleep a little. Draco suffers from insomnia. He has been having trouble with that for as long as she can remember. But somehow she thinks and hopes that Hermione is having a good influence on it.

Turning away from the window, with her hand full of pins, Hermione looks surprised at Pansy.

"What's wrong, Pansy?" she asks while walking over to her vanity.

"I have found something," she answers, pushing away from the door. Hermione pulls off her bracelets and puts them away before looking up at her.

"And that is?" she asks curiously.

She hadn't wanted to look up her mysterious missing memories, not herself, though she would have jumped at the possibility of research in the past. But that side of her seems a long time ago now. Hermione doesn't want to look up anything related to herself, afraid of what she might find.

"Wait for Draco," Pansy smiles, taking a seat on the bed. As if on cue, Draco steps out of the bathroom, his hair still dripping wet. It is fixed with a quick flick of his wand.

"What have you found, Pans?" he asks while laying a protective hand around Hermione.

A smile forms on Pansy's lips and at first she just looks at them, smiling. Hermione is about to ask her if she is going to tell them, when she does.

"I found out that the Veela venom might trigger her memory. So, perhaps, we can just wait and see if you will remember yourself."

"That would be amazing," Draco says with enthusiasm.

"Yeah, if it would be true," Hermione answers wryly. "Oh come on, Draco," she sighs, irritated, when seeing his look of utterly disbelief at her lack of faith. "You can't be serious. If I could remember because of the venom I would have by now. It's been two days!"

Shaking his arm off her, she stalks to the bathroom.

Momentarily defeated, Draco casts his grey eyes onto Pansy's brown ones. "She'll come around." When the door of the bathroom slams shut, she adds, "Eventually."

XXX

He kisses her temple again while she lays dozing off, staring out the window. Draco tightens his arms a bit more around her.

"Why don't you believe Pansy?" he asks in the peaceful silence of the room.

"I do believe Pansy," Hermione says quietly. "I believe that the information she found is true. But I don't think it works with me."

Draco sighs and kisses her bare shoulder, trailing a path up her neck. At her ear he stops and whispers, "Why do you think that?"

"Because I still remember nothing. When I try to remember back to a time before I was nine my memory just turns up blank. Not even a feeling, a sound or a picture. Just black nothingness." Hermione takes a deep breath before continuing. "If what Pansy said was the key, I should be able to remember something by now."

Draco watches her in silence while she keeps staring out the window. After a while she turns her uncertain eyes at him, rolling on her back. "Shouldn't I?"

For a moment, he is stunned. She has never asked for nor needed his confirmation before. When they were younger, yes, but now that she keeps holding on to Hermione Granger, she has never asked him for anything. Always pushing him away and not needing him. But when she looks up at him now, her blue eyes uncertain, even a little bit scared, he finally sees Sophia Naberrie. Oh, he had seen glimpses of her in Hermione's attitude, he is certain of that. But now, for the first time, he really sees Sophia, his Sophia, lying beneath him. And it breaks his heart to see her so scared. Not knowing her memories and knowing she's missed a lot, not knowing information is the scariest thing for her.

"I believe," he says after a moment, bending down to give her a sweet kiss. "But promise first that you're not going to be mad."

She stares straight into his eyes, not saying anything, just nodding. He smiles, bends down again and gives her one more peck on the nose. "I believe that you don't remember anything because you are too scared to."

He shushes her when she opens her mouth to protest. "You are Sophia Naberrie but you are holding on to Hermione Granger so much that you are unconsciously pushing everything related to Sophia away."

"But," Hermione starts to protest but is silenced by a sweet kiss from Draco.

"Let me finish," he whispers against her lips and she nods again. "I know that you cannot forget about Hermione, because that person is also you. I'm just saying that you have to open yourself to let Sophia in, because that is also you, and I'm confident that in the end you'll manage to make a mix of both personalities. After all, they are both you. You've just got to open yourself to let the memories in and stop fighting it off."

Hermione is very quiet now. She bites on her bottom lip while staring at him, waiting for his trademark smirk which doesn't appear. Over the last few days, she has seen a whole other Draco than the one she had known before. She has seen the Draco that Sophia knew, she knows. The sweet, kind, trustworthy, overprotective but still arrogant Draco. Sophia's Draco, and her Draco, and however much she hates to admit it, he might be right. She hadn't been conscious about it at first but every time someone called her Sophia, she had recoiled away from the name. Shied away from the memories. Maybe she should listen to him this once, and try to open up herself to the memories of Sophia.

XXX

She had a very strange dream as she slept besides Draco during the early hours of the afternoon, it had almost seemed a memory. _But that couldn't it have been. Could it?_ she thinks warily, sitting at her vanity in the late afternoon light, brushing her hair.

"Could it?" she asks herself, looking at her mirror reflection.

"Could what?" Draco emerges from the bathroom, his blond hair still dripping from his quick shower. Picking up his wand from the bed, he dries it magically. Hermione has still not answered him, but is just staring at her mirror's reflection.

"What's wrong?" His grey eyes pierce hers in the reflection. She absentmindedly brushes her hair. It doesn't even seem like she has heard him. Draco takes a few more steps until he is standing right behind her. Conjuring himself a chair, he then tucks his wand up his sleeve and takes the brush from her hand. Sitting down, he starts to gently pull the brush through her tangled hair. Draco himself had tangled it up an hour before. When the first gentle stroke of the brush goes through her hair, she speaks. "I had a strange dream."

She can't help but relax into Draco's gentle caresses.

"These things happen, love."

"That's not what I meant. It almost seemed like a memory."

Draco halts his movements and he looked at her face's reflection, shock and happiness mingled in his expression.

"Could it?" she asks his mirror reflection.

"Tell me, maybe I will remember."

She turns around to face him. "I didn't do anything."

Draco gently turns her around again. "Maybe consciously you didn't, but me pointing out the facts might help."

She bites her bottom lip. It's a habit, Draco notes, when she is distressed. He continues brushing her hair and visibly sees her relax.

"Hermione," Draco urges.

"It's pretty vague but I think it was my birthday. I have no idea what age we are because I can't see clearly. But I have a feeling we're still very young. I don't recognize the room anywhere here so I'm guessing it was at the Naberrie home." She turns around and throws questioning eyes upon Draco.

"Could be, there were often parties at the Naberrie Manor. If you say it's your birthday then it was most definitly at your home. It always was." He turns her around again and resumes letting the brush, or his fingers, glide through her hair.

"You came to me with a small present, wrapped in emerald green. There were lots of other presents around me but still I opened yours first," she says, turning around again to look at him. "It was my book, the same one you threw in the water: _Alice in Wonderland._" A bright smile breaks through on Draco's features. Somehow he doesn't even seem surprised that she knows about him ruining her book. Perhaps Narcissa or Lucius mentioned to him that they had told her.

Without saying a word, he places the brush on the vanity and gets up. After placing a light kiss on her hair, he walk to the door and before opening it, says,

"It was your seventh birthday."

**AN: **Oh gosh =D Do you like it? =)

Great thanks to my wonderful beta **Sarah Liz B**!


	17. Chapter 16, Revelation

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. The story and the characters belong solely to J.K, Rowling. I'm just playing with them and making no profit from this.

_**Chapter 16**_

Hermione watches Draco looking lost at the papers on his desk. She stands by the door for a little while longer and then closes it behind her. Draco has yet to show any sign of recognition, but she knows that he knows she is there. Even though he is so engrossed in his papers, a part of him will always be aware of where she is.

Leaning with her hands behind her back against the now closed door, she watches him. One of his hands is tangled in his blonde hair and his other is holding a quill.

After a few minutes of silence, his voice brings her back to the present.

"Is something the matter?" he asks, not looking up at her. A frown is creasing his brow now.

Hermione is a bit startled by the question. In the last week and a half she has been here, he has never asked her that, always reading her emotions and knowing what's wrong. But now he didn't seem able to decipher them. She can't blame him because neither does she. She is tired of her mixed feelings, one part loving him, for which she blamed the bond, and one part hating him for keeping her prisoner.

He looks up at her questioningly when she didn't answer. "Hermione?"

She bites on her lower lip and pushes herself away from the door, walking further into his study.

"Nothing, just bored I guess," she says when she stops at his desk, examining the little things lying there.

She hears him sigh and looks up. He has leaned back in his chair, his full attention now on his mate. "Your emotions are a mess."

She shrugs and walks around the desk. Draco pulls his chair away far enough and beckons her to sit on his lap, and she does so without any protest. He places his arms around her waist and takes one hand in his as she places an arm around his neck.

They stay quiet, Draco enjoying that Hermione is in his arms and how it calms him. Hermione pulls her arms away from him and began playing with her hair but she leans into him as if to make up for the loss of contact.

"Please, Hermione, just tell me what's on your mind, love. Your mess of emotions is giving me a headache," he all but begs, kissing her brow.

"You already had a headache, I bet, and I would blame the thing that's lying on your desk."

He chuckles at that and she continues twirling hair through her fingers. After a few seconds Hermione looks up; his grey eyes are watching her closely.

"Who are you to the Dark Lord? I know you're a Death Eater, just like Blaise. I saw the mark enough on your arm. But you're away a lot more than Blaise and now your looking into plans about a raid. Why do you have so much more authority?"

Draco's face turns grim. _Why does she notice such things?_ He curses. Hermione instantly notices his change of mood.

"You don't have to know that," he says in a commanding tone. Hermione lets go of her hair and pushes his arms off her.

"How do you want me to trust you if all you do is keep secrets from me?" Annoyance is now an apparent emotion in her.

"That is the best way to keep you safe."

"Safe! I am nothing but safe, Draco Malfoy. Don't forget that I was abducted and I still am."

"Hermione, love, don't say that. You mean the world to me. I would never try to hurt you."

Annoyed, Hermione pushes herself away from his lap and stalks around the desk. Leaning with both hands on the desk she leans in to Draco, who still sitting in the chair, awestruck by her sudden outburst, which he hadn't felt coming.

"You can pamper me with beautiful clothes and expensive jewelry. I will still hate you. You can treat me like a queen all you want but I am a prisoner. Though a prisoner in a beautiful cage, who has anything her heart desires, I am still a captive and not a free person, not now, not ever, and I will always hate you for that."

Then she turns around and walks away, leaving him sitting there, hurt and alone.

XXX

Hermione stalks down the hall, not really knowing where she is going. She is so tired of Draco keeping vital secrets from her and she is so tired of herself. Even now, she is more frustrated with herself than with anyone else. She hates the fact that tears are streaming down her face and she hates the guilt that she feels for hurting him.

She has only rounded the corner, coming in the main hall, when an arm catches her around her waist. Of course, he's followed her and now he turns her around so she is facing him. Hermione immediately hides her face in her hands, not wanting him to see that she is crying. Draco will know, though. He always knows.

"Love, please calm down," his voice sounds worried as he pulls her hands away from her face. She can't see him. Her eyes are brimming with tears that have yet to fall. "It seems like all I seem to do lately is cry in front of you," she says in defeat, as he pulls her into his arms.

Draco sighs while stroking her hair, holding her close to him with his other hand. "You may never believe me. But I understand you."

Hermione looks up at him, bewilderment written all over her face.

Their quiet moment was ruined by the soft pop of Tinky appearing.

"Master," she said, her big eyes looking up at Draco. Before she can say anything else Draco nods and mutters, "Yes, I'm coming."

"Why don't you go for a stroll in the garden, Hermione? We'll talk later."

With that said, he turns around and stalks away, back to his office. Hermione wipes the last of her remaining tears away and watches him walk away in shock. She has never been dismissed at all by Draco, let alone so brutally.

However, curiosity gets the best of her and she follows him silently.

There is something he is hiding from her and, as she had been and is still Hermione Granger, she wants to know what it is.

At the door to his office, she stops and looks around, looking to see if anyone is around. When she sees that the coast is clear, she opens the door a little, just enough to hear the conversation.

"The only thing you were supposed to do was get your hands on that book, and you even failed to do that."

Hermione listens in shock at Draco's voice. It sounds so sinister, so dark; she has never heard him talk like that. She bites her lip and listens more closely to the answer.

"I know, my Lord, but there was a spy there. It was impossible for me to get the book."

The voice answering Draco trembles in fear.

"A spy?" Draco asks unbelievingly.

"Yes, my Lord."

"Do you have any idea who that spy might be?"

"I have an idea, my Lord."

"Well, good. You go after the spy, and take your man with you, and then you'll go after the book. The Dark Lord doesn't have to know of your failings. But do so again and I might have to report you. I can certainly tell you I will not be the one on the other end of his wand."

Hermione gasps at the threat and the authority in Draco's voice.

She hears the other man mumble something. She bends closer to the door in an attempt to hear what he is saying when she jumps back at the fury in Draco's voice.

"You don't have to question my order! The Dark Lord has chosen me as his heir and thereby left me in command of many things."

After that she hears the other man scream in agony. Draco must have hit him with a nonverbal curse.

Throwing a hand over her shocked mouth, she stumbles backwards, away from the door. Voldemort had chosen an heir? The Order doesn't even know that. This is horrible and very important information she has just discovered.

"Hermione?"

Shocked and surprised by her name, she twirls around, coming face-to-face with Blaise.

"Were you eavesdropping?"

She has never seen his face so serious before.

Still too shocked by her discovery, she is unable to speak so she shakes her head no. Seeing Hermione's pale features and big, shocked, bright blue eyes Blaise doesn't believe her for a second.

"What have you found out?" he asks.

Nothing, she just wants to say. But the commotion outside has drawn Draco's attention, who opens the door, surprised.

Before he can ask anything, Hermione finds her voice again.

"I can hardly believe any of this!" With that said, she turns around and runs away. She can't stand to look at their faces anymore.

"Hermione, stop!" Draco shouts after her, but she keeps on running.

She can't wrap her head around what she has just found out. Draco was the heir to Voldemort? So, if Harry ever succeeds in overruling Voldemort, he has already secured someone who will lead the Death Eaters after he is gone. The war won't end then, just like everyone hopes.

She doesn't know what that throbbing in her chest is. Her logic tells her it is hurt, her heart aching because she has been hurt. But that can't be right. Why should she feel like he hurt her? She doesn't care for him, does she?

She keeps on running over the grass, towards the lake she has found a few days ago, wondering if that is the same lake where Draco had supposedly ruined her book.

She drops down on the ground a few yards away from it and lets the heaviness of feeling so powerless sink in.

XXX

Soft footsteps sound behind her some time later. She can hear it isn't Draco, who would've run towards her. Hermione is relieved that it isn't Draco that has followed her, she is still trying to place that feeling of hurt.

She closes her eyes, wishing the tears to stop falling and takes a deep relaxing breath. Hermione can't place her feelings. Anger (which is obvious) and hurt are both mingling in with a very confusing feeling.

"If there is anyone who's missed you the most, it's Drake." She does look at Blaise when he goes to sit next to her. "I don't think he ever got over the fact you were dead."

She turns to him with an angry glint in her blue eyes, her anger flairing.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" She gets up and marches closer to the lake; with every stomp of her foot, a word escapes from her mouth. "I. Am. Not. Dead."

"Luckily," Blaise lounges back on his arms and watches over the furious girl.

"And of course he missed me. I'm the only reason he's alive. You would love someone for less," she says, turning her face back to Blaise, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"He never missed you because of that, Hermione. He missed you because he loved you and always had. Drake only learned about his heritage when he was ten years old, and he loved you even before that." Blaise is speaking calmly to her, the only way she will listen if she was mad. They all know this, it's also the reason Blaise is talking to her. Draco is far too temperamental.

"He hated me, Blaise," Hermione sighs, turning away from him and wrapping her arms around herself trying to ease the pain building in her chest. _What is this?_ she wonders.

"He never hated you, Hermione."

Bewildered, she turns to him again. He sits there, leaning back on his arms, smiling at her. "He loved you. But it could never be, so he made you hate him and believe he hated you. You where like honey to bees for him. He couldn't stay away from you and couldn't stop talking about you. Of course, it was completely disguised as hatred. But I noticed it."

She blinks away the tears that are forming in her eyes and turns away from him again.

"It's quite obvious now why he couldn't stay away from you, isn't it, Hermione? Nor why you could stay away from him." Blaise adds, a hint of smile in his voice.

Hermione stays silent, looking over the lake with her arms wrapped around her, trying to blink away those damn tears. She shouldn't feel hurt (she has finally accepted it), she should feel angry and trying to plan a way to contact Harry. This was vital news the Order should know.

"I know you are slowly getting your memories back. But do you remember a little green music box, with silver decorations on the side?" Blaise breaks the silence after a while.

Her arms are still wrapped around her and tears stain her cheeks while she turns curiously to him, shaking her head 'no'.

"You were gone for a half year, with your parents to France."

"I've been to France?" With that one sentence, Blaise has gotten her to forget everything else.

"Come, sit with me and I'll tell you." She hesitates for just a moment and then walks over to him.

"Mais oui, mon cheri. Tu parle francais, tu sais? " Blaise says, looking at her with a smile.

"Blaise, c'est ridicule," she says, before suddenly realizing that she had understood him. Shock spreads through her. "Mais tu a raison! J'ai comprends toi. C'est incroyable."

A giddy smile spreads over Hermione's face, but it disappears again when Blaise pulls the little music box he'd mentioned earlier from out of his pocket. As if in a dream, she watches him open it and listens to the song she has always heard in her dreams.

"_All my thoughts are with you forever until the day we will be back together. I will be waiting for you._"

**AN: **The lyrics are from the song Bittersweet by Within Temptation. Which inspired this story.

Thanks to my lovely beta **Sarah Liz B**, who had no remarks for this chapter and said: "I have to say, Chapter 16 is my favourite chapter so far."

^^, I just have one extra commend. If it takes a long time before I put up a next chapter, don't hate me. I'm bussy studying for exams who are coming and still have to write what's coming next. But! mostly when I'm studying things pop up in my head and before I know it I'm writting on my story! =)

What do you guys think? =)


	18. Chapter 17, Blue Anemone

**Chapter 17- Blue Anemone**

Hermione paces the hallway. She doesn't know what to do and feels completely useless. If she only had her wand, then she might have a shot of getting out. But Draco is still holding her wand close with his, so there is no way she can get it from him. She seriously doubts that she would succeed in that. _Think Hermione, think_, she tells herself over and over again. She has to do something! Sitting around and doing nothing isn't something she normally does.

After Blaise had shown her the little music box a rain storm suddenly broke out, making them drenched within seconds. The cold water had efficiently broken he spell the music had on Hermione and both of them had run inside to shelter. Hermione went for a change of clothes, preferable dry ones, and when she came downstairs again, Blaise and Draco were gone.

This news she heard from Narcissa, who didn't know that something had happened earlier, and was very persistent Hermione had tea with her.

Now Hermione paces the white marble hall with the blue carpet in the east wing, the paintings on the wall curiously watching her. She is trying to find a way out to turn what she knows into the Order's favor, before Draco gets back home.

"What to do?" Hermione mumbles to herself. A painting of a man with long white hair and a very sour look pulls up his noise in disgust and whispers to the painting beside him, "Insane that one".

Hearing him, Hermione looks up with a disgusted look at the Malfoy from 1890, before turning around, walking into the bedroom and closing the door with a loud bang.

Pacing the room, she tries her best not to think or look at the little music box sitting on the vanity table.

"Urgh," she screams, frustrated when the song of the music box, refuses to get out of her head. Hermione knows she has heard this song many times in her dreams before, always wondering where it came from.

"Alright," she sighs, her hands tangled in her blonde hair. "Alright," she repeats, calmer and defeated now.

Hermione finally admits to herself what she has actually already known for weeks. She has started to fall in love with Draco - that's why she had at first so much trouble believing that he is Voldemort's heir. Although she has finally admitted it to herself, she will never admit it to him, nor let him feel it.

Letting her hands fall from the mess that is known as her hair, she opens her eyes to face the little music box. It seems to taunt her, sitting there proudly on her vanity with the silver decoration shimmering in the light of the lamps. After staring at it for a while, she curses herself and then opens the box, letting the soft music fill the silent bedroom with words she knows so well.

"_All my thoughts are with you forever until the day we will be back together. I will be waiting for you._"

While listening to it, a memory hits her so hard that her head falls in her hands as a huge headache starts to form behind her temples.

XXXX

"No, Mama, I don't want to go!" a little girl of eight screams and cries. Her face is red, showing that she has been crying for some time now.

Her long blonde hair is in two braids, two blue anemones making sure that they stay that way. She is wearing a soft white dress with a blue anemone drawn on it at the bottom.

She looks at her Mother standing in her room, packing away her clothes.

"Honey, we're going on a holiday, you should be happy," her Mother says, turning around to the little girl in the doorway. Catherina was just like an older version of her daughter. "We're going to have tons of fun. It will be just you, Papa and me," Catherina smiles a brilliant smile, wishing her daughter to not see beyond the cracks of it. They need to go, it is too dangerous. With the Dark Lord gone for several years now, the Naberrie family had kept a low profile but now it seems that someone has found out that they are still loyal and trying to find a way to bring back Voldemort.

Alexander had found out and wanted his family to be safe, so they planned to leave the country for a while, until it was safe for them to come back.

"But Mama," Sophia stamps her foot on the ground, emphasizing how mad she is, "I don't want to go!"

Tears start streaming out of her bright blue eyes again. Catherina sighs tiredly before letting herself fall onto her daughter's bed. "Why not, Sophia?" she asks, a hand covering her tired eyes. She dreads the answer Sophia is going to give.

"I wanna stay with Draco."

There it is, so predictable. Catherina has known it would bite her in the back, letting Narcissa win the argument so long ago, ending up with the children growing up so close.

"It's only for a little while. You will see Draco again, Sophia. Papa and I want to spent some time with you, sweetheart. Don't you want to spend some time with us?"

Catherine knows it is unfair, convincing her child like that, but there is no time, they have to go.

Sophia drops her gaze and looks at the doll she is twisting and turning in her little hands. "Of course I do, Mama."

"Well then, run along to Draco and tell him goodbye. We'll meet you in Malfoy Manor."

Sophia is old enough to use the floo by herself.

For a moment she bites on her lip, deciding whether she should throw another fit or not. Making a decision, the doll drops to the ground and Sophia runs out her room, her braids flying behind her.

Sophia almost bumps into Draco while rounding a corner in Malfoy Manor.

"Draco," she cries again, dropping herself into his arms.

"Sophia?" he asked stunned, "What's wrong?" He had just been on his way over to the Naberrie Manor to find Sophia.

"We're leaving!" she cries, her voice muffled by his sweater.

XXX

"Hermione, are you alright?" Draco comes rushing towards her; she hadn't even realized she has fallen to the ground. Normally her memories came to her in a dream - never before has she experienced them while awake. Her head is pounding and she had lots of difficulty staying awake.

"I'm fine," she just manages to whisper before having another flash of memory; apparently her subconscious isn't done yet.

XXX

"We're leaving, Draco… I don't even want to go."

"It's alright Sophia, you're just going on a holiday. It's not like I wouldn't be seeing you again." Draco smiles, patting Sophia on the back. To be honest he hadn't expected her to cry and doesn't know how to handle that. "Before you know it you will be back again and making me jealous with all your fun stories."

"You knew I was leaving?" she asks in wonder, wiping the back of her hand on her eyes and erasing her tears.

"I heard it from my Mother," Draco answers, watching her closely and hoping she won't start crying again. He really loves Sophia but crying girls isn't something he can handle.

Sophia doesn't answer. She looks at the floor now, still wiping tears away from her cheeks.

"I do have a present," he says, trying to get her attention back; it works.

Sophia looks up, her still watery blue eyes bright and excited. "You do?"

Draco decides to tease her a bit so he just nods instead of giving the present to her.

"Can I have it?" Sophia asks, wiping the last tears away.

"Maybe," a smirk appears on his face and he pretends to think it over.

A sour look appears on Sophia's face as she crosses her arms in front of her chest. "Give it to me."

Draco smiles at her and pulls the little box out of his pocket.

Sophia looks stunned when he gives it to her, staring at it for a while before looking him, confusion in her eyes. "You're giving me a box?" she asks, surprised. "A pretty box, but still a box." Wonder is written in her eyes.

Draco sighs - nothing is ever good enough for Sophia; she is far too spoiled.

"Open it, you spoiled Princess," Draco commands her.

Wondrous again she opens it, letting the music flow out into the hallway.

"_All my thoughts are with you forever until the day we will be back together. I will be waiting for you._"

XXX

Hermione blinks as reality comes back to her. The memory finishes and the headache that has begun to form is now pounding between her temples.

"Urgh," she moans when the pain hits her. Just when she wants to cradle her head in her hands. somebody else does it. A strong hand holds her head close to a chest while another strong hand rubs comfortably on her back.

"Where does it hurt?" an older voice from the one in her memory whispers.

"My head," she manages to whisper back, noticing that her mouth is dry and her lips are almost glued together. Tiredly she rubs her tongue over them, feeling a little better.

For some unknown reason Hermione doesn't manage to wake up nor can she really understands what's going on. Her eyes are still closed, she has not even tried to open them yet, the effort seemingly too hard for her. Vaguely she hears whispered voices and then a vial is pushed against her lips.

"It's a pain relief potion, Hermione, it will make you feel better," a female voice says, her memory placing it as Aunt Cissa.

"Does anyone know what has happened?" another male voice, commanding and brutal. Her memory has no trouble placing that one as well - Uncle Lucius.

"She had another memory," she hears Draco say. Enjoying the comforting rumble of his voice where her ear lays against his chest, it comforts her and brings her further back into reality.

"Strangely enough, she never had them during the day, and I can see why. I just wonder, what might have triggered it?"

Just then the song of the music box starts playing again and the room goes completely silent.

Lucius, who is standing nearest to it, closes the box with a soft thud.

"I don't know much about memories and how to get them back, but I do think that's one big memory box, so your question as to what might have triggered it is solved and the unasked question as to what is was about we can also conclude. Don't you think so?" Lucius wonders to no one in particular.

Finally feeling the pain diminish, Hermione is only left with tiredness.

"I'm alright," she whispers back to Draco, who is still holding her very close and as she tries to push herself out of his arms he holds her even tighter.

"I'm not sure about that," is his quiet answer.

Looking around, Hermione notices they are still sitting on the floor, not far from where she had fallen down, leaning against a bedpost. Narcissa is crouched beside them, worried eyes cast upon Hermione.

"Well, it seems like Sophia is alright again," Lucius concludes after some peaceful silence. He still refuses to use the name Hermione. "It's already pretty late, so, Narcissa, we better go."

After a nod from Hermione and another comforting stroke on her cheek from Narcissa, she gets up and follows an impatient Lucius out of the door.

"Do you want to talk?"

His voice brings her back to the real world; she has been staring off into space and would have fallen asleep at any moment now. His question also reminds her again of what happened earlier today and the fact that she still doesn't know what do to.

Although she needs to find a way to turn what she knows into her own favor, she is also very curious as to what he is going to tell her. The memory has had such a deep effect on her that she can still feel the pain of it tremble in her heart.

"Uhuh," she nods, turning her bright blue eyes to him.

"I don't know about you but I would rather sit on the sofa at the fireplace than here on the ground," he says smiling and, after seeing her smile back, he kisses her forehead before hoisting her up in the air with himself.

Walking to the sofa in his arms, Hermione suddenly notices how dark it is outside. Having the memory had seemingly taken place hours ago. Draco places her softly on the sofa, where she folds her legs under her and he calls a house elf. When the elf returns with some food, Hermione immediately starts eating, her hunger getting the best of her and Draco tells her about her memory. At first he tells her the things she has already seen but doesn't interrupt him - it brings her a new side to the memory she just had.

"You were gone for half a year."

This does take her notice.

"Not long after, you came back, but only a few months, and then you disappeared again. We all believed you were dead. I'm can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that you're not," he says, talking very quietly, his eyes staring next to her into the distance. Looking back at memories he doesn't want to see.

She swallows a last piece of apple as he continues to stare behind her and she at him. Hermione doesn't want to break the peaceful silence but after a few minutes Draco decides to do it himself.

"Anyway, all that's behind us now," he smiles, guiding his grey eyes to her and gliding a hand through her blonde hair.

"That was the memory you had, wasn't it?" Draco asks when she doesn't respond.

"It was, but the side you told me after I was just viewing it leaves quite an impact on me."

"Of course, my love," Draco smiles back, relieved, and he leans in to kiss her.

Hermione is still so wrapped up in the memory that she doesn't realize it until it is too late. His lips touch hers so tenderly and sweet that she can't help but give in to him.

"About this afternoon," his starts when he breaks away, bringing everything back to her and the plan she had finally begun to form.

There is no way she can get out of here, Hermione has finally realized that. But what if she can turn Draco? What if she can persuade him? After all, if there is someone he should listen to, it's her. She is his mate, the one he can't live without and the one he'll give anything her heart desires.

Hermione has it all planned out now. What if her heart desires that he help Harry win the war? Of course there is no one better to help defeat Voldemort than his heir, the one he trusts the most. Surely Draco can't resist this little wish from his witch?

But Hermione shouldn't have forgotten who she was dealing with; they didn't call him a 'slimy git' for nothing. He had it already worked out what his witch would try to do before he had opened the door and found her on the floor. Now that he has cut to the subject of this afternoon again, he can see the determined shimmer forming behind her bright blue eyes.

She jumps up after he said the words "About this afternoon."

"I may have overreacted," is her answer when she turns back to him, the determination gone from her eyes.

Draco smirked at her, if she is playing a game then he can do that too.

"It's ok," he shushes her, getting up and walking closer to her again.

Draco captures her face in his hands and before she can make any protest, he kisses her again. His kiss is so overwhelming that Hermione sees sparks fly behind her closed eyelids and forgets her resolution.

Draco smirks again when he notices her losing control. Wrapping his arms around her he pulls her even closer to him, kissing her senseless again.

The only thing he wants to do tonight is distract her, he doesn't want another confrontation. Draco wants her to want him back, just for once. The only way he can do that is to try to make her forget everything.

Releasing her from the kiss, he turns to her neck, sucking and licking his way up and down, waiting till Hermione has gathered enough to breathe again.

Moaning and suddenly realizing what he is trying to do, she pushes him off her a bit.

"I know what you're trying to do," she whispers, still too much out of breath to say anything loudly.

"Well," he smirks, moving to that special place behind her earlobe and kissing her there, making her shudder in his arms. "Why don't you stop me then?"

"I will," and then she shudders again when he pulled her earlobe between his teeth.

Hermione vaguely wonders how he can do that, but quickly puts it off as a Veela thing and not Draco. Which is, of course, a mistake for her to do.

It isn't the Veela inside him telling him what to do tonight, it is Draco simply knowing her so well.

Draco releases her and pushes her softly, so she falls down on the bed behind her. Fully realizing he has won tonight, he climbs over her with a satisfying smirk before catching her lips with his again.

Hermione grudgingly returns the kiss, realizing there will be no persuasion from her side tonight.

**AN: **I am so sorry for the long holdup. My wonderful beta Sarah Liz B was preoccupied and so was I. The next chapter might be a long wait again, because I want to write it right and there is so much that is happening.

Anyway just know that however long it takes me to update I will not abandon the story and this will be updated again. Because I never abandon a story, =).


	19. Chapter 18, The scent of Roses

**Chapter 18 – The scent of roses**

Watching the last embers of the fire die, Hermione plays, deep in thought, with a strand of her hair. It has been a few days since she discovered Draco is the heir of Voldemort, and it has been a few days since she decided to try to convince him to switch sides. With a soft sigh, she lets go of her hair. She still marvels at the fact that it feels soft and has curls in it.

Tiredly, she rubs her eyes as she tries to find a new way to try and convince Draco. Grimly she remembers again that she still hasn't succeeded in just talking to him, recalling the morning after when she discovered everything.

XXX

"_Well good morning, my love, don't you look beautiful this morning," Draco says as he pulls her beneath him. He is just about to kiss her when she stops him. _

"_Draco, we need to talk." _

"_Whatever you say, my love," he mumbles, leaning in again and kissing her breathless. He releases her when she gasps for air, and moves lower. _

"_Draco…" she breaths._

"_What's wrong?" _

_He is just kissing around a breast, making his way to the nipple and, taking it in his mouth, he makes Hermione gasp and unable to speak for a moment, while he fondles her other breast with his hand. When Draco looks up at her, grey eyes piercing bright blue ones, she finds her words again. _

"_You can't keep postponing our talk!" _

_Not so unbelievably to her, he smirks at her words before leaning in and giving her one of his sweet, slow kisses. Then he hovers just above her face, whispering, "Of course I can, I just keep doing this. I prefer it anyway." _

_He leans in again, the kiss starting slow, but it doesn't take long before he deepens it, making her slick and ready for him. Draco, aware of this, is already gently pushing her legs wider so he can fit between them. Hermione doesn't put up a fight anymore, knowing full well he would win anyway. _

XXX

If only she had a chance to talk to him… But from the moment she opens her mouth around him, he kisses her and makes her forget everything. She hates the fact that he can do this and even blames herself for him to succeed so easily.

Hermione has long given up trying to escape, knowing it is useless, but it has also been a few days ago since she has tried telling herself she wants to get away from him. The pain she feels to even think about leaving him is no longer only because of their Veela bond.

Hermione knows this and it is a feeling that scares her. She has become so scared that she forbids herself to think about it.

Sighing while leaning with her chin on her hand, she stares out of the window at the full moon. The fire has died completely now, and had actually only been lit for cosines and light, it being the middle of summer.

It is late again and still Draco isn't home. Hermione almost despises herself because of the restless feeling it gives her.

Later that night, Hermione wakes up when she feels his hand slide around her stomach. Nearly falling asleep in the upstairs sitting room, she had finally decided to go to bed. After placing a soft kiss on her cheek he lies down behind her, his face buried in her hair. It is the first night that he hasn't said anything, though he knows she is awake. Somehow he always knows when she is awake or asleep.

Closing her eyes, she refuses to give in to that worried feeling. It doesn't take long before she fails.

"What's wrong?" It isn't more than a whisper, but he will hear her. When no answer follows, Hermione turns in his arms and faces him. He is looking at her, his grey orbs shimmering in the moonlight that shines in from the open window.

"You know you can tell me."

Somehow, though it is too dark for tell certainly, she knows he is smiling.

"Yes, I can tell you everything and you would listen. But I don't know how to tell you this."

Sighing, Hermione knows what is bothering him. Having finally learned the truth, there are not many secrets left anymore. He would now discuss things sometimes openly with Blaise when she was around, giving Hermione a sight on how the situation is.

The end of the war is near and Voldemort has grown more and more restless. He had heard about a book with old dark magic, magic so old nobody remembers it. The book is supposed to contain a series of enchantments to give the person casting the spells unlimited power - greater, even, than Voldemort's means. Draco was given the task to find the book, using whoever he wanted and doing it whichever way he wanted.

The people he had ordered to steal the book (after Draco had finally discovered its location) had failed - this had been the conversation Hermione had heard.

Now, as Voldemort grows impatient, Draco is under greater pressure and is asked almost every night to inform him of his developments.

Hermione also found out that Draco has been ordered to torture a lot of people and has learned to read the signs of his face that shows how much he suffers under it. His face now showed these signs.

"Is this the world you want to live in, Draco?" she asks, her voice tender. When he says nothing, she pushes on. "Think about it. All this war and fighting. This killing of anyone who doesn't obey you. This punishing of someone if they do something wrong." She pauses, letting her words sink in.

"What if Blaise does something wrong? You must keep your authority high. You can't treat him differently because he's like a brother to you, and even if he was and he did something wrong, could you punish him the same way as you punished that man this afternoon?"

Draco growls at this. When he answers, anger is clear in his voice. "I had to do that. I was ordered, and it has nothing to do with what I want."

Aha, that is a first response in a few days - and his answer intrigues her.

"What has it got to do with then?" she wonders, lightly stroking his hair.

Draco stays silent for a long time. Hermione doesn't even think he will answer her when he at last says, "Staying alive."

XXX

Late afternoon light shines through the open window of the summer room. The French doors stand wide open, letting the gentle breeze flutter through the room and the leaves of the flowers rustle against each other.

The room is filled with flowers and it is, as Hermione has learned, the favorite room of Narcissa, as she cares for the flowers herself.

Nestled on the window sill, dressed in a soft white cotton summer dress, leaning against the window and so having a view of the lake as well as the room, Hermione enjoys the moment of peace and tranquility in the house. Even though she knows Draco has gone fighting, seeing him leave in his Death Eaters robes, she tries her best to ignore the fact that she sits here stuck, not doing anything while somewhere a fight between the light and the dark rages on.

Closing her eyes, leaning with her head on the window and breathing in the scent of roses -which stand behind her- she imagines to be somewhere else.

Hermione hasn't felt or reacted like herself lately. She hasn't noticed it before, but she began to see it while reflecting on things that had happened as she was trying to find ways to convince Draco to switch sides. Struggling with a past she has come to know, memories which play up and a love she now feels for Draco, she reasons it is enough for a person to change. She has changed but so has he. Hermione can see the weight of the war nearly pulling him under, but every time he sees her, he lights up and becomes this person she loves. Draco isn't the snarky, smirking, irritating boy of school anymore. He has grown up into a man who takes care of her and and this reflects the memories she has the boy who had taken care of her.

At the worried sigh of Pansy, Hermione opens her eyes again to look at the girl sitting at the table on the other end of the room.

The table stands against the right side of the room, surrounded by green plants and flowers such as jasmine, lily and tulip. They all bloom at the same time thanks to the help of some magic.

Seeing Hermione look at her, she throws the magazine on the table.

"I don't know what's taking them so long," Pansy sighs, worry evidently shining in her muddy brown eyes.

Suddenly Hermione realizes that it is not only on the light side that loved ones stay behind, worried, but also on this side. People who have nothing to do with the war yet are still victims of it. Just at that moment, there is a commotion in the hall outside. Pansy jumps up in relief but falls back into her chair when a Death Eater Hermione doesn't know enters, in bloodied robes.

"Oh no," she starts to wail as the Death Eater's green eyes slide over Hermione and lock on her.

"Adrian, don't tell me Blaise…" Before she can finish, tears already streaming from her cheeks, the Death Eater shakes his head.

"He's still alive but getting healing as we speak. Lord Malfoy has sent me to take you to him," he says with a grave deep voice, as though he had seen too many dead.

"Oh thank Merlin! Let's go!" Pansy jumps to her feet and without giving a second glance to Hermione, she follows the Death Eater into the hall.

Being confronted with the wounded on this side of the war, Hermione's heart constricts painfully as she thinks about all the lost ones on her side of the war. She prays silently that everyone is still alive.

Taking a deep breath, she gets up and goes into the hall, hoping to find Pansy and try to comfort her. The girl has done so much to help Hermione, she wants to do something in return. But although she has only left a minute ago, there is no sign of her anywhere anymore.

As Hermione crosses the main hall a loud crack bounces of the marble walls before heavy footsteps make their way towards her. Turning around, she comes face–to-face with an emotionally broken Draco. His black robes are covered in blood and mingled with what looked like plaster and his face is the color of ash.

Shocked by his appearance, Hermione stands frozen while he takes her in his arms and holds on to her as if she is the only thing keeping him alive - which may have been true at that moment.

"Draco, what happened!?" she finally manages to say.

"I don't know for sure," he whispers back, his voice muffled by her hair.

"Somehow," he says, pulling back enough to look at her, "we walked into a trap. I don't know how, the Order was losing and then there were more than we had anticipated. The walls of the building collapsed and many got wounded, especially the light side as they were standing nearer to the crumbling walls, so both sides started to retreat."

Hermione, not wanting to think about how many people on her side might have been lost, starts brushing away the white ash from Draco's face, only to realize that Draco's face isn't only white from the ash.

As he stays silent, Hermione dares to ask her question. "Draco, is Harry…?"

"He's fine," a sneer appears on his face and his silver eyes turn into a hard grey with the change of topic. "He even gave me this before I Apparated out of there."

He pulls the robe back from his shoulder, showing an angry looking cut, the blood still dripping from it.

"It hurts like hell," he winces before pulling his robe back over it. "Guess he found out about you," Draco smirks then, stealing a kiss from her.

"Draco, that should be healed!" Hermione is so relieved Harry is still alive that she can focus her attention on other things.

"I know," he winces, "I heard you were good at that."

"Not without a wand," she remarks back.

"You can borrow mine for a split second then, but first I want to take a shower and you're going to accompany me."

Draco takes her hand and tows her behind him towards the stairs. "We should give Potter something to be jealous about," he smirks at her before ascending the stairs.

XXX

With her hair still dripping wet and just a towel around her, Hermione applied the white healing salve, which would help the flesh around the wound to recover, equally over the wound. She had cleaned it first and healed it with Draco's wand, which he had taken out of her hands the second the spell had been cast, earning him a punch in the good shoulder and a sour look from Hermione.

"You know there's another way," she says quietly as she applies the green salve (this helped the wound not to scar).

"It's not that simple," Draco sighs, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. He is so tired lately; the continuing war has asked a lot from him.

"But it is," she smiles while turning the lid back onto the salve.

"How then," he asks, intrigued and cracking one eye open.

Hermione gets up and walks to the cabinet in their bathroom containing the potions.

"You just have to let me get into contact with Harry. I'll explain it all to him and the war could be over with a little bit help from you."

"Hmm," Draco truly smiles now, "if only it were that easy."

"But truly think about it, Draco. You know so much about You-Know-Who. If you would work together with Harry, the war could be over and we'll have peace again and isn't that what you want? What we all want? No more killing," Hermione goes on, walking back to him, sitting on a chair leaning against the wall.

"Sure love, but," he says, pulling her into his arms, leaning back again and closing his eyes, "why would I let you go to Potter? Who says you will come back to me? You should know I'm not that easily fooled. I really thought you would come up with a better idea for me to let you go."

Hermione snorts, "Really, that's not the point."

"What is the point then?" Draco asks sleepily.

She bites her lip and stays silent for a while before she answers. "The bloody war to be over and the world to not ruled by You-Know-Who. There have been too many dead."

Hermione turns her head to Draco but seeing his closed eyes and still form, she presumes he has fallen asleep. Waiting a bit longer, she stands up and makes her way to the bedroom. There is no way she could ever convince him like this, but she still feels a little smug knowing it is the first time he has let her try to talk him over.

While Hermione chooses clothes to wear, Draco sits in the bathroom, thinking things over, watching the Dark Mark slither on his arm. He hates to admit it, but she is right. The war has to stop and not be ruled by Voldemort. Being so close to the man, he knows what he is capable of and he doesn't like it. Lucky for Draco, he is good at legimency so he can keep his thoughts hidden.

Staring at the door where his mate just left, he knows he has to do something, and as he sits there an idea starts to form in his mind.

XXX

In the hours of the early morning, while everyone else lay still sleeping, Harry sits at the kitchen table of Grimmauld Place. It is a grey day, clouds making it even darker than it should be on this hour in the beginning of August. The tea that he made earlier sits cold and untouched before him.

His green eyes stare into space through heavy-lidded eyes. Black bruises are visible beneath his eyes and people who might be watching him might think he'd fallen asleep - except that he can't. His best friend is still missing, even though the Order have tried everything to locate Malfoy Manor. Harry had pushed the Order endlessly till Ginny put a stop to it. Everyone is tired and needs some rest, which Harry won't give them. He is frustrated and despaired. The longer it takes them to find Hermione, the longer she is under Malfoy's power. Ginny had done some more research about male Veela's and found out that their power grew over their mate the longer they were together. Harry tiredly rubs his hands over his face and then into his hair, making it even messier. He has grown mad with worry and the worst part is that he can't do anything about it.

His best friend Ron has taken up dating Lavender again. When seeing everyone's shocked faces, he had reasoned that Hermione wasn't staying loyal to him either. Four Order members and Ginny were needed then to withhold Harry from killing Ron. Never in his life had he been so mad at Ron, and he still refuses to talk to him.

Worst of all is that the number of Order member's was dwindling down to one of the lowest numbers it has ever been, thanks to the failed trap a week ago, which means Voldemort is winning. Harry, sitting with his face covered by his hands leaning on the table, tries to come up with something to tell the resting Order members in the meeting scheduled for later that day. Everyone depends on him knowing what to do. The thing is that Harry himself doesn't know what to do anymore but he can't tell anyone, not even Ginny, as spirits are already so low.

The tap of an owl against the window wakes Harry. The sun just breaks through the clouds as the clock in the hallway strikes eight. He must have fallen asleep on the table trying to figure out what to do. Harry looks around, dazed and a bit disorientated. When the owl taps against the window again, Harry looks at it, surprised. It is an owl he has never seen before, sitting there on the kitchen window sill looking quite indignantly at Harry for taking so long. Without doubt the owl is a beautiful high class owl, with grey feathers that almost look silver. Bothered that Harry is looking at him, the owl taps hard on the glass, making it shake in its frame.

Finally snapping out of his daze, Harry puts his glasses back on and gets up to let the owl in. It bites him as he takes off the letter and flies away without another glance.

Not caring about the bite, which is bleeding, Harry opens the parchment curiously. As he opens it, a Muggle coin falls out of the folds, hitting the ground and rolling away under the table.

His blood freezes in his veins as he recognizes the handwriting and looks at the initials at the bottom of the letter.

"What?" he wonders, taking a seat and reading the short note.

_Potter, _

_We need to talk. _

_In private. _

_Meet me at the location where the Portkey will take you. Come alone, as I will be too. _

_I promise on Hermione's life it is not a trap! _

_D.M. _


	20. Chapter 19, Making Changes

_**Chapter 19 – Making changes**_

"No Harry! You cannot do this," Ginny was looking furious. They were both crouched beneath the table, the muggle coin between them. Harry looks up from the coin at the furious words of his girlfriend.

After he had read the note for a second time he got up and went after her, waking her up. Now he somehow wished he hadn't as her eyes were looking furiously in his.

"I'll be careful… I might even see Hermione," Harry tried to abate Ginny. It wasn't working, as she somehow looked even more furious.

"Yeah right, as if Malfoy is going to make it that easy," Ginny snapped back at him. "Don't you dare touch that thing!" she shrieked then when Harry put his hand forward.

"Ginny, sweetheart. I'm going to be careful but I've got to do this, I have to try."

"You don't have to. Harry what if something happens you?" anguish was evident in Ginny's voice now.  
>Hearing that he focused his emerald green eyes on her blue ones as he spoke gently. "Someone has to take the risk. If we go on the way we are now, we're certainly going to lose the war."<p>

"But why you?" A first tear escaped her brave face.

Wiping it away he whispered, "I'm the chosen one, remember?" Bowing over the coin he now leaned in to give her a soft short kiss, and as he leaned away he took the coin his hand before she could stop him. Harry felt a tug at his bellybutton as the portkey took him away from Grimmauld place. Leaving Ginny alone beneath the table in the kitchen, crying to herself.

XXX

Landing with a soft thud Harry lost his balance and fell as he put his glasses straight, wand in his hand he looks around.

The only sound to be heard was of water dripping behind him through a leak in the roof, where the water of the pouring rain flittered through.

Harry had landed in an old empty living room of an abounded house. In the only seat available there was a man with blonde hair waiting for him.

"Took you long enough," was the greeting Harry received as they made eye contact, green meeting grey.

"Malfoy," Harry said as he rose his wand and pointed it on Draco.

Ha"What do you want?" Harry then asks, wand still clasped in his hand. His green eyes searching for any indication that this was indeed a trap.  
>"To negotiated," Draco still had his wand in his hand, keeping an eye on Harry's. "Where's Hermione?" Harry had completed his search of the building and focuses solemnly on Draco now.<p>

"Safe and sound," Draco said with an pleased smile.

"Where?" Harry pressed on, taking a step closer.

"Not here Potter, relax. You don't really believe I would take her here do you? Now grab a seat and put your wand away."

At this Harry narrows his eyes, "why should I trust you?"

"You don't, but if I were to kill you I would've done it already. All I want to do is talk to you. Now I'll put my wand away but only if you do to."

As if to show he meant it Draco hides his own wand in his sleeve and holds his hands up in surrender.

Harry still didn't trust it, "Talk about what?" he asks keeping his wand trained on Draco and while looking around the abandoned room.

"The end of the Dark Lord."

At this Draco got Harry's full attention. His green eyes got sharp as his sense of this being a trap got up. "What are you on about?"

"Nothing, I'm sick of this war and I'm sick of being under that bastards will," Draco was getting annoyed. This whole plan was bound to fail, why did he believe Hermione anyway.

Lowering his wand Harry looks stunned at Draco. "Fine, what's your proposition?"

A smirk appears on Draco's face now as he lazily bows to pick up something behind him. Which immediately causes Harry to worry and hold up his wand again. As Draco shows the hidden object, Harry stares at it confused. "A book?" he then asks.

"Not just any book Potter. It's had an old spell in it, old magic. Which can make a man invincible," he offers the old brown book to Harry, who takes it reluctantly.

"It took me quite some time to get a hold of it. If it wasn't for your spy I would've had it a long time ago in my possession."

Harry, who had been looking in the book, looks up annoyance shining in his green eyes. "You didn't have to kill my man."

Draco smirked again, "I didn't do it Potter. I have men of my own."

Still annoyed Harry closes the book with a thud. It was very small and fitted in a person's hands, you could easily look over it. "So Voldemort wants this?"

As Draco nods his confirmation Harry looks it thoughtful over again.

"We got to find a way to make him think he's got unlimited power, but make sure he doesn't."

"Smart Potter, that's what I've thought about from the moment I got my hands on that book."

"So then tell me your master plan Malfoy, if you at least have one," Harry throws the book back at him.

Again Draco smirks, unfazed by Harry's anger. He bends down again and pulls out an identical copy of the book. Throwing it at Harry he explains.

"I made some changes to the spell and instead of making him more powerful, it should make him less."

"Won't he notice that?" Harry opens the identical book to find it a perfect match of the previously one.

"That was what I was worried about at first. So I made some more changes. The Dark Lord will have the feeling of being invincible and when he'll finally finds out he isn't you have to make your move, Potter."

Harry looks up from the book, confused. "Why do you need me? Why not do it yourself? You could take everything in and be as powerful as you want Malfoy. You've gone through all this work and you need me to just finish it?"

An annoyed look appeared on Draco's face now as he averted his grey eyes.

At this Harry suddenly got it and he laughed, his green eyes twinkling with joy for the first time since a few months. "It's Hermione isn't it?"

Draco shot an murderous look at Harry and got of his seat. "No Potter, she doesn't know anything. Don't you think I can control her? She's got nothing to do with this," he pulled the book out of Harry's stunned hands. "You have been told, be ready when the final fight comes. Don't miss Potter!"

Before Draco could Apparate away Harry quickly asks one more question. "But why?"

"Believe it or not Potter, but people change," and Draco Apparated away from the abandoned building.

"People yes, but you," Harry said in the silence only disturbed by the dripping of water. Looking around one final time Harry Apparated out of there to.

XXX

Opening the door the only thing Harry saw was a flash of red hair before someone threw their arms around him.

"Don't you ever do that to me again," sobbed a terrified Ginny, "you could've been dead."

"I'm not Ginny, sweety," Harry held on to her tightly, as she continued on crying. Behind her Harry saw Lupin, Arthur and Moody appearing in the kitchen doorway. Hands folded before them and a disapproving look on their faces. He'd have lot of explaining to do before any of them would believe what just had happened. Harry still had some trouble processing what just had happened.

As Ginny quieted down he gently pushes her away. Taking her hand he leads her with him to the kitchen where half of the Order was waiting for him.

XXX

"Draco, you surely must be becoming insane?" Snape's black eyes stares unbelievingly and angry at his godson.

Draco his silver eyes guard his godfather with calm, he had been expecting this reaction, and so he was not surprised.

Early afternoon light shone through the study room in Malfoy Manor. The sunbeams were already very warm, no sigh of air as it was another smothering day in August.

"I'm not becoming insane Uncle," Draco lets himself fall into an armchair.

Snape black eyes focus on the figure of his godson sitting in the armchair, looking quite defeated. The only thing he was ever concerned about was the welfare of his godson, who he always thought to be a smart boy. So Snape sits down in the chair in front of his godson, more elegant than the boy hanging in the chair.

"Then tell me what you are planning Draco."

The steel grey eyes of Draco guard his godfather with care before he speaks confidently about his fears. "I don't want to live in a world ruled by Voldemort," Draco confesses to his godfather. "That's never been my decision, so I decided to change my ways."

"And you changed your ways all on your own, or has a certain someone been quite a help with that?" Snape wonders aloud, a bit amused as he leans back prepared to hear the whole story why his godson decided to change his ways now.

XXX

Fourteen pair of eyes stared at the Chosen One. He must've lost it, the war must've finally pulled him under.

Harry could feel none of the gathered Order members believed him. Even Ginny, holding his hand, had a look of disbelief in her eyes.

If he hadn't been there himself he would've had trouble believing it to. But none of the Order members had seen the sincerity in Draco's eyes. Nor had they seen the look on his face as he mentioned the fact that Hermione had gotten to him.

"Look I'm not crazy. And this might be hard to believe but where's the harm in trying to?" Harry looked first at Moody, standing near the door, then at Lupin, in front of him.

For a few moments nobody spoke and were all eyes on their Chosen One, as Harry starred deliberately in everyone's eyes one by one. In the end Lupin was the first to give in and nod and so having Arthur and eventually everyone else present nod to, they were putting their fate in Harry decision.

XXX

Early evening light enlightens the ground floor sitting room in Malfoy Manor seeming in huge contrast to the mood the people in the room were in.

Narcissa and Snape sitting in sofa's facing each other, Draco standing near the unlit fireplace and Lucius pacing in the small square. Each eye was turned towards him. The temperature was too warm to be comfortable but it was too dangerous to keep a window open. They were after all talking about treason.

"It's way too dangerous Draco, you're going to get killed," Lucius was furious as he still paced in the sitting room, which wasn't a habit of his.

"If a Death Eater were to hear us right now, leave out the Dark Lord! Why do you try to ruin everything I worked so hard for?" he turned to his son at this.

"Indeed, everything you worked hard for. Nothing I ever asked for is it Father?" Draco seemed calm on the outside, but in fact he was seething with anger. He knew this was going to be difficult, as he was not having enough doubts himself. But Snape had convinced him to tell his parents so they could stand behind him if anything went wrong.

"It was never anything I wanted, Hermione helped me see that," he said the last thing without thinking and Lucius became livid again.

"I knew she would be trouble. I knew it from the moment we realized she was Hermione Granger," Lucius said with his back to Draco, just as well. He might be his father but Draco just managed to calm his inner Veela down, ready to protect his mate. It was Narcissa who came to the rescue before Draco could say anything. "You should be glad she is here Lucius, otherwise your son wouldn't be," came the shooting voice of Narcissa. After all these years she managed to have acquired the skill to calm both of her men down.

"You're right," Lucius says while pinching the bridge of his nose. He knew he had overstepped a line when it came to Hermione.

"But I just don't understand why all of a sudden now change our ways? We're so close to the end!" Lucius lets himself drop next to his wife on the sofa.

"That's just why," Draco steps in. "I never realized this before but the threat of danger will not be over when the Dark Lord wins. That's going to be only the start. He's ruthless Father and being so close to him lately made me see that even more. I will not let Hermione live in a world ruled by him. She wouldn't be safe and I would have to hide her, her whole life. That's no way to live. Yes, she pushed a bit and helped me see what I couldn't see on my own and that is the fact that we have to stop this, now. Before it is too late. And now is the right time as I have worked out a plan which cannot fail," at this he looks at this Father.

Lucius holds his gaze for a long time before looking over at his wife. At her confirmed nod he guided the same steel grey eyes to his son. "If you say so Draco, we will follow you. Let us hear about your plan."

At this approval of his parents Draco sits down too, explaining his plan for the third time this day.

XXX

Hermione was reading a book in the bedroom. Having nobody in the house to talk to and too early to go to bed, so she opted for a one used to be favorite pastime.  
>After their talk in the bathroom a few days ago Draco had been away for most of the time. He was again secretive about what he was up to and Hermione didn't think it would be something good. She rather chose to ignore it now, as trying to persuade him let to no result. Finding another way to get out if here and warn Harry was the only option and the only thing she had been doing for the past days. It took her quite an effort to make it look like she wasn't planning anything. Although Draco wasn't around there were enough people to keep an eye on her.<p>

Draco entered quietly, Hermione hadn't heard him. She was to engrossed in her book and only looks up as he pulls it out of her hands. Immediately Hermione notices how distressed his face looks and she's scared of what he might tell her. Being imprisoned for so long, she had no idea how the war was going. Except for that one piece of information when Harry had hit Draco with that spell a few days ago. Draco pulls her into his arms Hermione doesn't protest. But as tension is building in her she pulls away and looks at him with questioning eyes.

"Draco," she urges him to tell her with only his name, knowing he would understand.

"I've contacted Potter," he says his grey eyes honest and vulnerable staring into hers.

Suddenly Draco is thrown back from the feelings she's been feeling. Feelings he has never felt from her side before. Love, pure and clean love for him. He was only just getting used to that new emotion or she throws herself at him with enough force to knock him backwards on the bed. Leaning above him she kisses him for the first time. It didn't take long before he kisses her back and it felt so different from all the other times. Their love coursed through the bond and Draco just knew then that he had never had been as happy as he was now.

He pulled her closer to him and then rolled over so he was on top now. His mouth left her lips and traveled over every inch of skin that was in his sight.

**AN:** I have really no excuse for the delay. I'm had writers block, have been busy and kind of forgotten about writing for a while. I cannot promise anything for the next chapter, but it will not be abandoned, although it might seem so.

I hope you liked this chapter and where the story is heading! ^^


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